


ACT 1: Grim DETERMINATION

by rcReader



Series: AngelTale – The Story of Angel Dreemurr [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Asriel is a cinnamon roll, Asriel never died, Because 'Why Not', Casual Flirting, Chara Does Not Exist, Complete, Determination (Undertale), Does-the-Dog-Die.com? No, Dogs, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Flowey Does Not Exist, Frisk does not exist, Gen, Humans Had Magic, If Necessary: Trigger Warnings Will Be On a Chapter-by-Chapter Basis, Injured Protagonist, Monsters are Trapped in the Netherworld, My First Fanfic, No Fonts for the Skeletons, Non-Graphic Depictions of a Child in Pain, POV Protagonist (Undertale), POV Second Person, Protagonist Has Issues, Protagonist Has the Powers of Both Frisk and Chara, Protagonist is Bad at Feelings, Protagonist is Not Chara, Protagonist is Not Frisk, Reference of Child Death, Souls, Tags Are Hard, creative liberties were taken, soul checking, tags are out of order
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:16:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 49,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26031016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rcReader/pseuds/rcReader
Summary: A human child falls into the Netherworld, filled with single-minded determination.A monster child finds them and decides to guide them through the Netherworld.The monster child can tell something is wrong with his new friend.Can he save them? Do they even want to be saved?
Relationships: Alphys/Undyne (Undertale), Asgore Dreemurr/Toriel, Protagonist/Asriel Dreemurr (Platonic), Protagonist/Everyone (Platonic), Sans/Toriel (Platonic)
Series: AngelTale – The Story of Angel Dreemurr [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1889557
Comments: 8
Kudos: 20





	1. The Prince

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A human child falls into the Netherworld. A monster child decides to help them.

It’s a beautiful day outside…

Birds are singing, flowers are blooming…

On days like this, kids like you…

Are bleeding-out in a field of golden flowers.

In all fairness, falling 3,000 feet straight down would have been instantly fatal to any normal human… Good thing you’re not exactly ‘normal.’ Your DETERMINATION is much stronger than any other human, strong enough that no matter what happens, you simply refuse to die. Of course Determination is all well and good, but it can’t stop you from feeling pain. Speaking of pain, bleeding to death is quite unpleasant, isn’t it?

You decide to do something about your predicament. You try to stand and immediately regret your decision, as pain shoots through your entire body. On the plus side, you now know that your body is still in one piece. You were lucky, after a fall like that… You try very hard not to think about it.

Since moving is out of the question, you decide to try and better assess the situation. You are in the Netherworld, a pocket dimension created as a sort of prison for monsters. After monsters lost the great Human-Monster War nearly 3,000 years ago, the monsters were sealed away in this place. According to the notes you found, the Netherworld has a day-night cycle, but it has no sun, or moon or stars. Indeed, the Netherworld’s blood-red sky is completely empty, and yet everything seems perfectly lit, as if the sky itself was shining light down upon land. You quite like this new sky, but as a Red SOUL human, you are probably biased.

There is a field of golden flowers that seems to stretch on for miles, at least in one direction. In the other direction there seems to be a ruined city of some sort, despite this, the beauty of these flowers is nothing short of breathtaking.

And in the middle of that flower bed lays a human child, face-down, covered in blood. Said human child is you, and you, quite frankly, are screwed.

You let out a frustrated sigh which quickly turn into a pained cough. And now you can taste blood, great.

Despite this you have to get up, you have to keep going, you have to complete your mission! You try to stand once more, pushing through the pain. You barely manage to get your head off the ground before the pain overwhelms you. You cry out in equal parts pain and frustration. …You really hope no one heard that, the last thing you need is—

“It sounded like it came from over here…”

…Unnecessary attention.

Out of some bushes comes a fuzzy white thing, you squint your eyes to try and get a better look at it. After a moment you realize that if you weren’t screwed before, you are now. Before you stands a Boss Monster, one of the most powerful types of monster in existence. This particular kind of monster strongly resembles a bipedal goat. Judging from their size they must be a child, but that doesn’t change much. There is no way in hell that a Boss Monster wouldn’t recognize a human.

“Oh!”

The monster runs over to your side, where you can’t see them anymore. You are grateful for this; you don’t want to give them the satisfaction of looking you in the eye as they kill you. Maybe this is for that best, chances are likely that this monster will—

Your thoughts are interrupted by a surge of magic, and you brace yourself for the end.

…

…?

Why doesn’t it hurt? Your mind takes a moment to process what is happening, the monster IS using magic on you, but judging from the lack of (additional) searing pain, it must not be combat magic. Actually, this magic feels, soft… warm… You don’t particularly like this strange, foreign feeling, but you wouldn’t call it unpleasant. You can almost hear your bones being stitched back together, you can certainly FEEL it however, and for whatever reason the pain is little more than a dull ache. Eventually the magic, and the strange feeling, dissipate… So this must be healing magic.

“You’ve fallen down, haven’t you?”

The monster’s voice sounds vaguely masculine, but you don’t know enough about monsters to say for certain. You decide to do a quick check of your body. Your upper body feels fine, but your legs are still really stiff. Your head still feels heavy, chances are likely that you have a concussion, you should avoid sleeping until you get that looked at.

You try to stand again. You stumble, and the monster catches you before you hit the ground, again.

“Here, get up…”

The monster takes your left arm and places it over their shoulder and brings their right arm around to your side. You follow their lead and try to your best not to drag the both of you to the ground. Pathetic, you can’t even stand without help. Why is a monster, a Boss Monster at that, healing you? Helping you? Why would any sane person help YOU?

…You can’t understand.

“What’s your name?”

Your… name…?

*Name the fallen human.*

You start to panic but stop yourself before it can show. You have no interest in using THAT name ever again, so you will have to come up with something. At this point you become keenly aware of your concussion. At least, that is the best explanation for the veritable wall of letters filling your vision. You ignore it, and instead focus on thinking up a good name. You try several things, but none of them seem fitting. Eventually you find it, a name that will work for you.

You tell the monster child your name.

“Angel, huh? That’s a nice name.”

You glance at the monster and are greeted by the most genuine smile you have ever seen.

“My name is Asriel Dreemurr.”

The two of you begin your slow trek through the ruins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Time: The Ruins
> 
> What? An Undertale fanfiction? In 2020? Heresy!
> 
> There were three reasons for naming the Protagonist “Angel”  
> 1\. It is a five letter name, like Chara and Frisk.  
> 2\. It is gender-neutral.  
> 3\. It is *Spoiler*.


	2. The Ruins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asriel guides the fallen human through the ruins, but wonders if the human is strong enough.

If you were to sum up the ruins in just one word, it would be “purple.” Seriously, almost everything is purple! You don’t know if it’s just the natural coloration of the earth in this region or what. The buildings are all made of purple carved stone, the few bits of shaped wood adorning the building are also purple, but then again, the wood is probably painted. The only parts of the terrain that aren’t purple are the blackened trees, red fallen leaves and the occasional marble pillar. It’s not like you mind all that much, but it is odd, right?

The whole time Asriel was chatting up a storm, it seems he (and you know he is male because he told you) is a little excited to meet someone new. You were excited too, but for very different reasons. Dreemurr… that is (or perhaps, was) the name of the monster royal family. Considering most monsters don’t have last names, unless they descend from nobility, AND that Asriel is a Boss Monster, it seems like a safe bet that Asriel is a prince. And you know better than anyone that a powerful family name can take you very, very far. With a literal PRINCE as your guide, you could go just about anywhere in the Netherworld!

You almost couldn’t contain your excitement when Asriel mentioned taking you to see his mother. “My mom can heal anything!” he said, “Let’s go see her right away!” His mother, the queen, would mostly likely be in or near the heart of monster capital. It just so happens that the capital is exactly where you needed to go, or at the very least, it was the best place to start. Getting healed by a professional wouldn’t hurt either.

Asriel gave you some monster candy from a free sample bowl (why was that just lying around?) and said it should help heal you if you got hurt again. Curiosity got the better of you and you decided to eat it straight away. To your surprise, it actually healed you! Sadly, it did nothing to soothe the tightness in your legs, but with a little effort you were able to stand and walk on your own. Asriel seemed relieved by this; you could tell he wasn’t too keen on the thought of carrying/dragging you about the place. Neither were you, honestly. Your pride had been wounded enough already.

The two of you ran into a ghost named Napstablook. For some reason, the presence of that monster made you want to share music with others. You shook your head to clear it of the odd compulsion and took a combat stance. Neither Asriel nor the ghost seemed to notice, however. One pleasant conversion later and the sad ghost seemed to in better spirits, (heh) and wished the two of you luck in getting home. Did that ghost not notice you were human? Or did they simply not care? Either way, it seems you won’t need to fight your way through the Netherworld like you first thought.

You also met some other monsters wandering the ruins. None of them seemed aggressive, except maybe the Loox and the Migosps, but you were able to talk the Loox down easily, and without them, the Migosps were completely docile. Although the Migosps’ dance moves SUCKED! Still, you weren’t there to pick a fight, especially in your wounded state.

Outside of the minor altercations, and some very simple puzzles, your journey was simple and straight-forward, and you were able to reach a quaint little house at the far edge of the ruins. “This was going to be a summer home for me and my parents, but…” Asriel gestured to the dilapidated buildings around you, “The settlement was abandoned when we started having problems with… something. I don’t know what.”

How very unhelpful.

Your expression probably betrayed your thoughts, because Asriel quickly adds, “But don’t worry! We can take a little break here and then head straight to Snowdin, and then to New Home!” New Home was apparently the name of the capital. Who named these places? Once you were inside, Asriel said he needed to get some things from his room and ran off. You decided to wait in the hall.

Your trek though the ruins only took about an hour, and now here you are, standing in front of a mirror inspecting your reflection.

It’s you.

You decide to check your stats. You are a bit disappointed in yourself for not checking sooner, but better late than never.

* “Angel” - HP 20/20

* The fallen human.

That’s… even WORSE than you thought! Your maximum HP is much lower than it’s supposed to be. Then again, it is possible for someone to be so badly hurt that max HP is reduced in addition to current HP, but that usually only happens when faced with either permanent, crippling injuries, or red magic attacks. Since you would know if someone used red magic on you, that can only mean…

You look down at your legs, and silently hope that feeling of tightness isn’t a hint that something is very, very wrong…

You forcefully return your attention to your reflection in the mirror. You look like a mess. Your clothes are stained with blood, your neck-length hair looks like a rat’s nest, and there is a painful-looking bruise on your left shoulder.

You look like hell, which is fitting considering the rest of you. Your jet-black hair, deathly-pale skin and squinted-shut eyes… oh yeah, your eyes. You’re not sure how, but you have the strange ability to ‘see’ even with your eyes closed. It makes absolutely no sense, and you have never heard of another human with this ability.

Asriel is still in his room, so you decide to make use of this opportunity. You open your eyes.

Your blood-red eyes.

You actually like the look of them, but other people tend to get scared when they see them. You don’t mind the looks of shock and fear. You don’t mind the yelling. You don’t mind the name-calling. What you DO mind, is when people get in your way. You mind having to fight everyone and everything that sees your eyes. All red-SOUL humans have red eyes; it’s just how it is. But red SOULs are so rare, that almost no one has seen red eyes like yours.

It doesn’t help that red-SOUL humans are the most dangerous and unpredictable kind of humans, not that humans know this, they forgot about SOULs and magic over 3,000 years ago.

If the monsters saw your eyes…

You are snapped from your thoughts by the sound of a door opening. You close your eyes and turn to see Asriel standing in the door way holding some clothes. “Um, I don’t mean to be rude, but… You should really change clothes. Yours are kinda covered in… blood.”

You look back at the mirror and then back to Asriel, he seems tense for a moment before you nod at him.

“Okay, I think these should fit you, sorry if their a little wrinkled. These were a change of clothes I left here when we came to visit once.” The clothes Asriel are offering you look like the same outfit he is wearing; a green and yellow striped shirt and some simple khaki shorts. No shoes you notice. Additionally, you notice Asriel isn’t wearing shoes either, doesn’t that hurt? Or maybe it’s a Boss Monster thing? You decide it would be rude to ask.

You look down at you own shoes; they are badly scuffed, but miraculously, not covered in blood stains! Good, because you were NOT running all over the place with no shoes!

“You can change in my room, if you want; I still need to grab something from the kitchen, so meet me in the entry hall, okay?” You take the clothes and nod once, Asriel walks away as you enter the room.

It’s a small child’s room. You decide against looking around and instead hurry and change clothes, you know monsters don’t have blood, but you still don’t like running around looking like an unkempt serial murderer. You do have some standards after all!

Hmm… actually, now that you think about… Asriel Dreemurr is an anagram for Serial Murderer. How quaint. You briefly realize that such a revelation would likely scare or intimidate a normal person. But, to be fair, it’s not like anagrams can dictate a person’s personality.

That’s what SOUL traits are for.

After changing into the clean clothes you decide to pat yourself down, and get a feel for the overall fit. While it doesn’t fit your personal style, it does fit your body, and that’s what’s most important right now. Sadly, there is nowhere to conceal your weapon, damn! You glance back and your jacket lying on the bed. Of course you planned on taking it with you; you DID make it after all. You just weren’t sure if you should wear it as you traveled. You can easily conceal your weapon in the jacket, that’s the whole reason you made it with hidden inside pockets, but…

You check the jacket over and find that the bloodstains will (probably) wash out, and even so, they aren’t plainly visible. You are so glad that red is your favorite color, otherwise you wouldn’t have insisted on making the jacket red, then it wouldn’t hide the bloodied bits.

* Crimson Cloak – DEF 80

* It’s really a jacket, but you’re a sucker for alliteration.

…It’s not like your going to find better gear just lying around.

* You re-equipped the Crimson Cloak.

* Defense increased by 80.

You slide your weapon back into its hiding place, double-check your new clothes, and quietly exit the room.

You make your way back to the entrance and find Asriel waiting with a frown on his face. You ask if you kept him waiting long.

He shakes his head. “No, I just wished that there was still pie here…”

Pie? How long has this place been abandoned? You wouldn’t trust any food that’s been left here for so long. You decide to tell Asriel as much.

He shakes his head again. “I know human food ‘spoils’ after a while, but monster food will last, well, forever. Unless you drop it in something or it mixes with something inedible or toxic.”

You did not know that. It occurs to you that the monster candy wrapper did not have an expiration date. It also occurs to you that you don’t know the monster’s dating system. Such information could be useful. You inform Asriel of this.

He nods and walks over to a calendar on the wall, and flips through several months, until he reaches September of this year. “This is the monster calendar,” he says, “My dad says we started using the human calendar almost four hundred years ago. Does it look accurate to you?”

You examine the calendar. You ask if you could look it over more thoroughly, and he takes it off the wall and hands it to you. You spend a minute examining it, counting days and checking months. You decide to check February since this is a leap year; it has 29 days on the calendar. Asriel confirms that monsters know about leap years, so all that’s left is to confirm the date.

You ask for today’s date.

“It’s September 16th, I know because yesterday was my birthday!”

Really? That’s odd… You voice your thought before you think to stop yourself.

“What’s odd?”

You look Asriel over, after a while he starts fidgeting. Oops, looks like you were leering again… You suddenly have a hunch, and you aren’t sure if you want to be right or not. You guess his age.

“Huh!? Yeah, I did just turn 10. How did you know?”

You knew it, somehow…

You tell Asriel that you were also born on September 15th, 2048 C.E.

Asriel cocks his head to the side. “But that means…” Asriel suddenly looks VERY excited. “WE SHARE THE EXACT SAME BIRTHDAY!?" His half-scream, half-squeal hurts your ears, but he doesn’t seem to notice. He’s seems way too happy about this.

Asriel is talking a mile-a-minute and you just can’t keep up. You decide to just let him burn himself out, and after several seconds, he stops abruptly, closes his mouth and looks very concerned about something.

What now?

“Um… You’re the same age as me, right?”

You nod slowly.

“So you’re not very strong, are you?”

You don’t know whether to be hurt or concerned by this line of thinking. You tell Asriel you can handle yourself well enough. He doesn’t seem to believe you.

“I know some monsters won’t be happy seeing a human walking around. It might be dangerous…”

You repeat that you can handle yourself. Asriel doesn’t respond.

Asriel looks between you, the front door and a nearby flight of stairs. He looks lost in thought, until…

“…Follow me.” Asriel hastily walks down the stairs.

You follow.

Down the stairs and through a small corridor, you finally reach a modest sized room with a large door at the end. Asriel stops in front of the door, his back toward you.

“This door leads straight to Snowdin Forest.” Asriel’s voice is quiet and composed, completely unlike before, where he was energetic and excited. “But… I can’t let you through.”

You tense, and subconsciously slip into your combat stance.

“Prove that you ‘can handle yourself.’ Prove to me that you won’t be in any danger from monsters…”

Asriel turns to face you, and a second later, fireballs appear in the air around him.

It’s a FIGHT.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Time: The Comedian
> 
> I decided to keep SOME mechanics from Undertale, mostly just stats, like HP and LOVE. FIGHTs will NOT use game mechanics, but SOUL modes will make an appearance at some point.
> 
> I decided to give the protagonist dark hair and pale skin to give them a more ‘demon-like’ appearance. This is because of Chara’s ‘demon’ line from Undertale. Additionally, the original Protagonist sprite had black hair, but it was changed to brown to be more visible against dark backgrounds. The red eyes were because, well… that one’s obvious.
> 
> Also, yes, this IS set in the future. No flying cars, though, it’s not that kind of future setting.


	3. The Comedian

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angel proves themself to Asriel. As the two children continue their journey, a pun-loving monster makes an entrance.

You are no stranger to fighting, and, to be honest, the small Boss Monster in front of you isn’t exactly trying to hurt you. Despite this, you still find yourself getting grazed by the odd fireball or two. If your legs weren’t so damn stiff, this would be easy. But there is no point thinking about ‘what if’s’ right now. You see a lull in the attacks and decide to check Asriel’s stats.

* Asriel Dreemurr – ATK 40 DEF 40

* The Prince of the Netherworld. He doesn’t want to fight you.

It’s obvious judging from the weak intensity of his fireballs, that he doesn’t want to fight. And neither do you, having the Prince as an ally would be highly beneficial. If you fought back, you could easily win, but you doubt your own ability to show restraint… to show MERCY.

You tell Asriel that it’s clear he doesn’t want to fight. You tell him you don’t want to fight either.

“I, I’m sorry… But I don’t want to see you get hurt. Not all monsters are nice…”

Another wave of fireballs fly towards you. You easily see through the intricate patterns and move into the shifting ‘safe-zone.’ You tell Asriel that a monster is hurting you right now, and yet he doesn’t seem bothered.

“I… It’s not like… I, could just heal you again…”

Another fire attack. You tell Asriel that does NOT make this okay.

“I… I know. I’m sorry.”

Another attack. You ask Asriel if he is really concerned for your safety.

“Yes! Of course I am! I just…”

Another attack. You lie and tell Asriel that you don’t believe him.

“But—”

You interrupt Asriel and say you don’t want to hear it, and he should just let you go. He seems to be slightly annoyed.

“I’m just trying to make sure you can handle yourself! You only have 10 HP left after all!”

Another attack, this time slightly more intense than before. You ask Asriel, ‘who’s fault is that?’ He seems angry now.

Asriel grits his teeth, but doesn’t say anything. His attack is more erratic and you get hit.

* HP 5/20

You briefly consider eating that spider donut you bought at that spider bake sale earlier, but decide against it. It’s time, all or nothing…

You call Asriel an idiot and tell him you hate him. His eyes start tearing up.

“SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP!”

A ring of fireballs appear around you, the heat given off by these things is unlike before. Even if you were at max HP, you doubt you could survive even a single hit from these things! Normally, you would just leap over them, but you doubt your injured legs could stick the landing safely. The fireballs start to quickly descend on you from all angles.

No way out…

Looks like you will have to MAKE one!

You lunge forward, bringing your hand into your jacket, gripping you weapon… In one practiced motion, you swing, striking one of the fireballs in front of you. You swing again striking another, clearing a path to safety. You quickly return your weapon to its hiding place.

The deflected fireballs hurtle towards a surprised Asriel. The first one catches him in the stomach, the force knocking him slightly off-balance. He lowers his arms to cradle his stomach, momentarily forgetting about the second fireball, which hits him square in the face. He falls backward from the impact and lands flat on his ass.

The remaining fireballs flicker and fade leaving you alone with the crying prince.

Wait, crying?

“I’m, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I, I hurt you and, and…” Asriel breaks down completely. You can’t understand him through all his sobbing and sniffling.

How badly did you hurt him? You check him again.

* Asriel Dreemurr – ATK 40 DEF 0

* He’s only missing about 1/20th of his HP… Why is he crying?

…You can’t understand.

Why is he crying?

…

You want him to stop crying.

You want him to stop and you don’t know why.

You tell Asriel it’s all right, you forgive him. It only makes him cry harder.

“…This, this is why I don’t— Why I don’t have any… any friends. I, I really am the worst…”

The worst?

“I got so angry, I didn’t even… didn’t even stop to think about how you felt… I’m sorry.”

You considering telling Asriel the truth; that YOU are the worst kind of person, not him.

…

Something tells you that would just make it worse.

You kneel down and hug Asriel. That’s what you do to people who are crying, right?

Asriel returns the hug, repeatedly muttering how sorry he is.

You tell Asriel he is such a crybaby. He laughs once.

“I guess I am… I’m sorry… I—”

If you hear ‘I’m sorry’ one more time you WILL murder someone!

…You wisely decide to keep that to yourself. You instead tell Asriel that he can make it up to you by guiding you to the capital.

“New Home? Yeah, yeah I’ll take you there myself! Um…”

What is it now?

“Once we reach New Home, I guess we won’t see each other again, since you probably hate me… It’s okay if you do…”

You tell Asriel you don’t hate him. He seems relieved.

“Thank you.” He tries his best to stop sniffling. “Through this door is the edge of Snowdin Forest— Oh!”

...What is it THIS time?

“Um, just go on ahead, I need to grab something real quick.” And with that Asriel releases you from his hug and you both stand up. “Don’t worry it’s a straight shot from here to Snowdin Town, I’ll catch up quickly!” And he’s off, you wonder if Asriel really is this scatter-brained, or if he’s just an idiot.

You sigh and push open the large doors in front of you.

* * *

The cold air would be quite bracing, but you barely feel it. You begin your slow trek down the snowy forest path. Only now does it dawn on you that trudging through a tundra while badly hurt may not be the best of ideas.

You check yourself.

* “Angel” – HP 19/20

Huh. Asriel must have healed you when you weren’t paying attention.

You certainly didn’t heal yourself.

…

Someone is watching you…

You continue down the path, straining your senses to pick up any trace of your would-be shadow. Whoever they are, they’re good… really good.

The tension is palpable by the time you reach a small gated bridge.

Suddenly…

The sound of crunching snow make you freeze in your tracks. How long have they been there!?

The shadow draws closer, until its right behind you. You can’t bring yourself to turn around. Why can’t you turn around!?

“Human.” The voice speaks, “Don’t you know how to greet a new pal? Turn around and shake my hand.”

You turn, the stranger offers their hand. You shake it, bracing yourself for anything.

…The sound of artificial flatulence fills the air.

“heheh… the old whoopee cushion in the hand trick. it’s ALWAYS funny.”

You start smiling, despite yourself. Your brain dimly registers that the person before you is some kind of skeleton monster. They are only about half-an-inch taller than you.

“anyways, you’re a human, right?”

You nod.

“that’s hilarious. i’m sans. sans the skeleton.”

Sans…? You get the feeling his full name must be ‘Comic Sans,’ judging from the font they are using. Wait… font?

“i’m actually supposed to be on watch for humans right now. but… y’know… i don’t really care about capturing anybody.”

The fact that he(?) DIDN’T perform the magical equivalent of a sucker-punch told you that much.

“now, my brother papyrus… he’s a human-hunting FANATIC.”

Well, aren’t you lucky.

“hey, actually, i think that’s him over there.”

Instant karma…

“i have an idea. go through this gate thingy. yeah, go right through. my bro made the bars too wide to stop anyone.”

The two of you rush through the gate and stop next to a… lamp?

“quick, behind that conveniently-shaped lamp.”

How the hell is there a lamp shaped like you!? You decide not to question it further and ‘hide’ behind it.

A taller skeleton monster comes storming in, dressed vaguely like a cheesy superhero.

“sup, bro?” The shorter skeleton asks.

“YOU KNOW WHAT ‘SUP’ BROTHER! IT’S BEEN EIGHT DAYS AND YOU STILL HAVEN’T… RECALIBRATED. YOUR. PUZZLES. YOU JUST HANG AROUND OUTSIDE YOUR STATION! WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING?!?” The taller skeleton isn’t quite yelling, but definitely isn’t using an inside voice, either.

Judging from the font, the tall one must be Papyrus.

“staring at this lamp. it’s really cool do you wanna look?”

The hell!? Is Sans selling you out?

“NO!! I DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THAT!! WHAT IF A HUMAN COMES THROUGH HERE!?! I WANT TO BE READY!!! I WILL BE THE ONE! I MUST BE THE ONE! I WILL CAPTURE A HUMAN! THEN, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS… WILL GET ALL THE THINGS I UTTERLY DESERVE! RESPECT… RECOGNITION… I WILL FINALLY BE ABLE TO JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD! PEOPLE WILL ASK, TO, BE MY, ‘FRIEND?’ I WILL BATHE IN A SHOWER OF KISSES EVERY MORNING.”

“hmm… maybe this lamp will help you.”

Oooh, you get it… Sans is deliberately calling attention to the lamp to make sure Papyrus doesn’t look. Simple reverse-psychology at work.

“SANS!! YOU ARE NOT HELPING YOU LAZYBONES!! ALL YOU DO IS SIT AND BOONDOGGLE! YOU GET LAZIER EVERY DAY!!!”

“hey, take it easy. i’ve gotten a ton of work done today. a _skele_ -ton.”

You try your best to suppress a snicker.

“SANS!!!”

“come on. you’re smiling.”

“I AM AND I HATE IT! SIGH…”

…Did he just say the word ‘sigh?’

“WHY DOES SOMEONE AS GREAT AS ME… HAVE TO DO SO MUCH JUST TO GET SOME RECOGNITION…”

“wow, sounds like you’re really working yourself… _down to the bone_.”

You try REALLY hard to suppress your snickering.

“UGH!!! I WILL ATTEND TO MY PUZZLES… AS FOR YOUR WORK? PUT A LITTLE MORE, ‘BACKBONE’ INTO IT!!!! NYEHEHEHEHEHE!!! …HEH!”

Papyrus leaves, and Sans calls out to you, “ok, you can come out now.”

You step out from behind the lamp. Well… that was fun.

Sans gives you a scrutinizing stare, you’re half tempted to check him, just to get your point across. The only thing that stops you, is the fact Sans doesn’t check you, he just looks you over.

“well, i’ll be straight-forward with you. my brother ‘d really like to see a human… so, y’know, it’d really help me out… if you kept pretending to be one.”

Sans walks off towards to ruins, leaving you cold and alone.

You can’t even get angry at him for his snide comment, because you know it’s true…

“Angel!” A familiar voice calls out in the distance, Asriel. “I’m glad I caught up with you… Why are you making that creepy face?”

You snap out of your reverie, and realize you were smiling. Damn. At least you didn’t open your eyes.

You tell Asriel that it’s fine, and continue walking down the trail.

It’s fine…

You’ll be at the capital soon.

It’s fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Time: The Future Royal Guardsman
> 
> There were a LOT of Undertale quotes in this chapter, because I couldn’t really think of anything meaningful to add to those parts. Also, there will be no fonts for the skele-bros, sorry.


	4. The Future Royal Guardsman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The children reach Snowdin Forest. Hijinks ensue.

You were shivering, but not from the cold.

Sans’ words were still running through your head. He knew.

You could tell that he meant what he said; he wanted you to pretend, not for his sake, but for Papyrus.

You decide to do just that. Not because you were afraid, not because there was a chance Sans would out you if you didn’t. You would do it because he asked nicely. No tricks, no deception, just an honest request.

You aren’t used to people making honest requests of you… You can’t really describe how you feel, how you’re supposed to feel…

“Please, tell me what’s wrong. If you’re still upset with me, I understand…”

You almost forgot Asriel was here.

You tell Asriel about how you met the skeleton brothers. You purposely omit Sans’ final comment.

Asriel must have mistaken your shivering for fear, because he tries to comfort you, “Don’t worry, Papyrus is really nice! But, it IS weird… Why would he want to capture a human?”

You suggest that maybe the king wants something from a human, or multiple humans.

“Maybe? But what could he possibly—”

Asriel must have reached the same conclusion you did. You decide to change the subject and ask Asriel if he got what he went back for.

“Yeah I did, look!” Asriel points to the scarf he’s wearing. The best way to describe it would be…if you saw a rainbow throw up. “I, uh, actually got it for you, since it’s really cold out here.” Wait, WHAT?

* Rainbow Scarf – DEF 20

* A rainbow-colored scarf. If you wore this, you would die of shame.

Asriel starts to remove the scarf. You are NOT wearing that rainbow-colored nightmare!

You quickly tell Asriel its fine! You aren’t bothered by the cold, honest! He doesn’t seem to believe you… You quickly add that it looks really good on him! He seems delighted by your complement.

“Really? Thank you, rainbow IS my favorite color.”

You are about to point out that ‘rainbow’ isn’t a color when you encounter two familiar faces. Two familiar, skeletal, faces.

“SO AS I WAS SAYING ABOUT UNDYNE!” Papyrus stops when he sees you.

What happens next begs belief.

Papyrus turns to Sans, as Sans turns to you, only for Sans to turn to Papyrus, as Papyrus turns to you. This repeats a few times until both brothers are spinning around in circles.

After they both manage to stop themselves, Papyrus speaks, “WHEW, I’M DIZZY. SANS! WHAT IS THAT?” Papyrus points… at Asriel?

“that’s a boss monster.” Sans winks his left eye. “you should know, you guys _chill_ out together from time to time.”

“OH…” Papyrus seems crestfallen.

“hey, what’s that next to the boss monster?”

“GASP!” Okay, this time, you KNOW he said the word ‘gasp’ you KNOW it!

You don’t know why this bothers you so much…

“…I DON’T KNOW WHAT THAT IS.” Papyrus’ words bring back that uncomfortable feeling in your chest.

“well, it’s not a boss monster, and i think it’s not rock…”

“NOT A FLUFFY BOSS MONSTER, AND YET NOT A ROCK EITHER…” Papyrus furrows his eyebrows, despite not having any…? “GASP! THEN BY PROCESS OF ELIMINATION, IT MUST BE A HUMAN!”

Papyrus seems delighted to see you now, you can’t tell if he really didn’t recognize you, or if he is just playing the fool…

“HUMAN! YOU WILL NOT PASS THIS AREA! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL STOP YOU! YOU WILL THEN BE CAPTURED! YOU WILL THEN BE SENT TO THE CAPTIAL! THEN… I DON’T KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.”

You’re pretty sure you know what happens next.

Papyrus doesn’t seem to notice your discomfort, and continues, “IN THE MEANTIME, YOU SHOULD PREPARE YOURSELF! FOR HIGH-JINKS! FOR LOW-JINKS! BEING CAPTURED! AND OTHER FUN ACTIVITIES! REFRESHMENTS WILL BE PROVIDED. CONTINUE, IF YOU DARE! NYEH HEH HEH!”

Papyrus runs off down the path before you can retort. You honestly can’t tell if he’s planning to capture you, or if he just wants to hang out. You think that’s a good thing, maybe.

“huh. you, uh, actually seemed a little tense there. huh, kiddo?” Sans is looking you square in the face. You don’t believe for a second that he cares. Sans suddenly looks a little hurt… did you say that out loud? “that expression… it’s the expression of someone who thinks their being lied too.”

…Did… did he just read your poker face…? YOUR poker face? The poker face to end all poker faces? The poker face that, if drawn, would be best represented by three horizontal lines!?

This skeleton, this comedian… he’s good… You feel yourself starting to respect Sans, if only just a little bit.

Asriel speaks up, “Sans? Papyrus isn’t… he isn’t gonna hurt Angel, is he?”

“nah, don’t worry. my bro’s not dangerous… even if he tries to be…” Sans is looking away when he says that. You stare at him, or rather, his SOUL.

Sans is telling the truth.

Sans suddenly takes a step back. “w-welp, i’m gonna go on ahead, don’t keep my bro waiting, and uh, thanks for agreeing to play with him.” Sans quickly walks away… down the opposite path.

You ask Asriel if you should tell Sans that he is going the wrong way, again.

Asriel shakes his head, “No, Sans does that all the time. He’ll just take one of his ‘shortcuts’ anyways.”

Shortcuts? Does he mean teleportation? You ask Asriel this, he shrugs. You guess that he doesn’t know either.

“Anyways, we gotta reach Snowdin Town. From there, we can head straight to the capital. The fastest route is the same one Papyrus took, so it looks like we're gonna have to play with Papyrus after all.”

The two of you resume walking down the path.

You ask if Asriel is friends will the skeleton brothers.

“Not really, I mean, Papyrus and I sometimes hang out, but I don’t know if we’re really friends…”

You ask why he thinks that.

“Because I’m… I’m used to people being nice to me because they want something from me, that they see me for my title… not as, as Asriel…”

You understand, he is the prince of the Netherworld, even if he hasn’t told you as much, some people would be intimidated by that fact, some would try to use it, to use him…

Like how you’re using him…

It feels like there is a brick inside your chest, weighing you down. You decide to ignore this feeling.

You come to a clearing and are greeted by the skele-bros.

“HUMAN! WELCOME TO YOUR FIRST OBSTACLE! I THINK YOU WILL FIND THIS ONE, QUITE SHOCKING! IT IS THE INVISIBLE ELECTRICITY MAZE! WHEN YOU TOUCH THE WALLS OF THIS MAZE, THIS ORB” Papyrus holds a crystal orb aloft, “WILL ADMINISTER A HEARTY ZAP!” Asriel looks like he wants to say something, but remains quiet. “PROCEED, IF YOU DARE!” Didn’t he just say that? Like 2 minutes ago?

Regardless, you examine the ‘puzzle’ before you. You notice three glaring issues straight away. 

Issue #1: the walls of the maze, are in fact, invisible. There are not indications where the walls are, however if you took some of the readily available snow you could cover the walls, making them visible, but that might trigger the orb.

Issue #2: while the walls are invisible you can vaguely sense where the walls are. As soon as Papyrus pulled that orb out of his pocket, a small current of magical energy started flowing through the area. If you focused on this current you could probably figure out where the walls were.

Issue #3: PAPYRUS IS THE ONE HOLDING THE ORB! You’re pretty sure you know how electricity works, and judging from the fact Papyrus isn’t wearing rubber gloves (just regular woven gloves) you’re fairly certain he does not.

You sigh, take two steps forward and stick out your hand, fingers barely brushing… something.

What happens next is EXACTLY as you expected; the orb zaps Papyrus.

“SANS! WHAT DID YOU DO?”

“uh, i think the human has to hold the orb.”

“…OH. WELL THEN.” Papyrus walks towards you, effortlessly navigating the maze as he does so. “HERE, HOLD THIS!” Papyrus tosses the orb to you and runs back to maze exit. “OKAY! NOW YOU CAN GO!”

Issue #4: Papyrus just gave you the ‘solution.’ Issue #5: you COULD just put the orb down…

You decide to play along and carry the orb with you. You easily follow the footprints that Papyrus left in the snow and reach the end without further incident.

You hand the orb back to Papyrus, he seems pleased.

“INCREDIBLE! YOU WERE ABLE TO SOLVE THIS PUZZLE SO EASILY! WELL DONE HUMAN!”

A small part of you wants to bask in the praise. The rest of you is too proud to be proud of something like this.

“BUT! MY NEXT PUZZLE WON’T BE SO EASY! NYEH HEH HEH!” Papyrus leaves, in usual Papyrus fashion.

You are starting to see a pattern form.

“welp, it’s good to see paps having fun.” Sans leaves too.

You feel like you’re being punked. That’s the word, right? ‘Punked?’

Asriel approaches you and you ask him if Papyrus is always this… excited.

“Actually… Papyrus seems a little quieter than usual…”

Wait, this is quiet!?

“Yeah, something must be bothering Papyrus. I wonder what it is?”

You have pretty good idea what’s bothering him. WHAT, not who. You push the thought aside and continue down the path.

“…Maybe it’s because of the royal guard?” Asriel wonders aloud.

You ask Asriel about the royal guard.

“Oh! Uh, I’m not sure I’m supposed to tell you this, but Papyrus wants to join the royal guard.” Now that he mentions it, Papyrus did say something about that while you were hiding behind that lamp. “He told me he always dreamed of joining the royal guard, protecting people from danger, being a hero… Maybe that’s why he wants to capture you? To prove himself?”

You’re not so sure, this whole thing feels like an act. The question is, to whose benefit?

The two of you come across a puzzle in the snow, looks like Papyrus wasn’t kidding; this is an actual puzzle. A really simple one, but still. Looks like you need walk across the tiles in the correct order, and then reach the switch at the end. Or… you could just walk trough/jump over the ankle-high spikes blocking the way.

You opt to solve the puzzle instead.

It looks like there is some ice incorporated into the puzzle as well… While you don’t mind the cold, you HATE ice! It makes it hard to walk, and sliding around always seems to end badly for you. This time is no exception. While you were able to solve the puzzle on your first attempt, you did take a nasty tumble in the snow.

You tell Asriel you are okay and continue down the path.

After a bit of walking, you encounter it. Your one true weakness: Dogs.

You see a pair of dogs wearing black robes standing several feet away. They notice you and Asriel approaching and bound up to you, tails wagging.

Asriel greets the dogs, “Howdy, Dogamy! Howdy, Dogaressa!”

One of the dogs speaks, “Hello, Your High— oof!”

The dog’s greeting was rudely interrupted, by you tackling him(?) to the ground.

Dogs, why did it have to be dogs?

Fluffy, adorable, pet-able dogs!

You begin petting the dogs with reckless abandon.

...

Everything that follows is a bit of a blur, but you do recall petting both dogs into submission, them believing you to be some kind of weird puppy, and them realizing that dogs can pet other dogs.

After expanding the dogs’ minds you and Asriel continue on your way. You try your best to ignore the strange looks Asriel is giving you. You fail miserably.

You tell Asriel that you enjoy petting cute, fuzzy things. He nods slowly.

You stop walking and turn towards Asriel. He stops dead in his tracks, giving you another weird look.

You tell Asriel that you enjoy petting ALL cute, fuzzy things.

You lightly pet Asriel’s head. He seems confused for a second… Until the meaning behind your words sinks in. He blushes slightly. It’s good to see that your flirting works on monsters as well.

You continue down the path and encounter the skele-bros once more.

“HUMAN! THIS PUZZLE WAS DESIGNED BY MY BROTHER, AND I’M SURE YOU WILL BE AS CONFOUNDED AS I AM! NOW! WAIT…” Papyrus must have noticed that there is no puzzle before you, because he turns to his brother. “SANS! WHERE IS THE PUZZLE?”

“it’s right there. on the ground.” Sans nods at the paper lying in the snow. “trust me, there’s no way they’ll get past this one.”

You decide to play along once more. You pick up the paper.

…

It’s a word search.

…

Your patience has reached its end. You are NOT solving this thing.

You unceremoniously drop the paper and walk away.

“SANS! THAT DID NOTHING!”

“whoops, i knew i should have used this week’s crossword instead.”

That would have been even WORSE!

“OH MY STARS! I CAN’T BELIEVE IT. JUNIOR JUMBLE IS MUCH BETTER!”

“what? that easy-peasy word scramble? that’s for baby-bones.”

“I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU SAID THAT! HUMAN! SOLVE THIS DISPUTE FOR US!”

You have never done a word scramble before, but anything is better than a crossword puzzle. You say scrambles are better. Papyrus seems pleased.

“NYEH HEH HEH! I KNEW YOU HAD GOOD TASTE HUMAN! TAKE THAT, SANS!”

“ouch.” Despite everything, Sans seems pleased for some reason.

Papyrus walks off. Sans shrugs and follows after him.

You turn around and see Asriel working on the word search.

He looks up and smiles sheepishly. “What? It looked like you were having fun, so I didn’t want to interrupt.”

You sigh and resume walking. You aren’t watching were you are going and almost bump into a table. Was that always there? The table has a plate of… spaghetti? There is note next to it, written in papyrus font, so it must be from Papyrus. You don’t feel like reading the note, you also don’t feel like eating… whatever that is.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t eat that either.” Asriel wrinkles his nose. “I like Papyrus and all, but his cooking, yeesh…”

You ask Asriel if it’s really that bad.

“Uh, let me put it this way: The taste is… indescribable.”

…

You continue on your way.

The two of you solve another tile puzzle. Asriel asks if he can solve this one. You decide to let him, and he solves the puzzle quickly.

A short while later, you re-encounter the skele-bros once again.

“HUMAN! THIS NEXT PUZZLE WAS DESIGNED BY THE INGENIOUS DR. ALPHYS! WHEN I PRESS THIS SWITCH, A NEW PUZZLE WILL BE GENERATED, USING THE COLORED TILES BEFORE YOU! EACH COLOR HAS A DIFFERENT FUNCTION! RED TILES ARE IMPASSABLE, YOU CAN’T WALK ON THEM! STEEPING ON A GREEN TILE WILL FORCE YOU TO FIGHT A MONSTER. BLUE TILES ARE WATER TILES. ORANGE TILES ARE ORANGE-SCENTED, THEY MAKE YOU SMELL DELICIOUS! PURPLE TILES ARE SLIPPERY, THEY WILL MAKE YOU SLIDE TO THE NEXT TILE! THEY WILL ALSO MAKE YOU SMELL LIKE SOUP, WHICH PIRANHAS DON’T LIKE! YES, ALL THE WATER TILES ARE INFESTED WITH PIRANHA! THEY WILL ATTACK YOU IF YOU SMELL OF ORANGES, BUT PURPLE AND BLUE ARE FINE! YELLOW TILES ARE ELECTRIC, THEY WILL ZAP YOU IF YOU STEP ON THEM. WATER TILES THAT ARE NEXT TO ELECTRIC TILES WILL ALSO ZAP YOU! PINK TILES DO NOTHING AT ALL! FEEL FREE TO WALK, RUN, SHIMMY, DANCE, OR MOON-WALK OVER THEM AS MUCH AS YOU DESIRE!”

What…? Just… What…?

“HUMAN! ARE YOU READY?”

You nod dumbly. You just don’t want to hear the lengthy explanation again.

“VERY WELL… BEGIN!”

The tiles begin to flash and quickly switch colors, until finally…

…

The puzzle is a straight path made of pink tiles, flanked by red tiles on either side.

The look on Papyrus’ face can best be described as: ‘Papyrus.exe has stopped responding.’

Papyrus says nothing. He just walks away. After he leaves, you bust-out laughing. Asriel joins you.

“welp, guess that happened.”

After the two you regain your composure, you decide to keep going. As you leave, you think you hear Sans mutter something. You can’t be sure, but it sounded like, ‘good one, alph.’

You and Asriel continue until you reach a long wooden bridge. The skele-bros are on the other side, waiting for you.

“HUMAN! IT IS TIME FOR YOUR FINAL TRIAL! THE DEADLY GAUNTLET OF TERROR!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Time: The Date
> 
> A lovely walk through the woods and no foreshadowing happens. Nope, none whatsoever.
> 
> Holy crap, this chapter was LONG! Way longer than I intended in my notes. And I even skipped some things to make it shorter! Oh well.


	5. The Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Papyrus and the human 'FIGHT,' then go on a date. Asriel and Sans have mixed feelings about this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING: **Implied** romantic date between an Adult and a Minor
> 
> NOTHING HAPPENS! Even so, you have been warned.

…You’re not sure what it is you are looking at.

You see a wooden bridge, surrounded by all manner of hazardous things: spikes, cannons, something that looks like a primitive flamethrower, and… a dog hanging from a rope tied around its waist? That dog looks way too calm for this.

You make a show of looking between Papyrus and the dog.

“WORRY NOT, HUMAN! THIS DOG IS A TRAINED PROFESSIONAL!”

You stare at Papyrus’s SOUL.

He isn’t lying.

“HUMAN! ARE YOU… REALLY THAT CONCERNED? FOR THE DOG’S SAFETY?”

You nod once.

“heh, seems the kiddo had the same idea you did. huh, paps?”

“INDEED! YOU SEE HUMAN… HOW DO I PUT THIS? WE KNOW THE DOG CAN HANDLE THIS. BUT! I HAVE EXPRESSED CONCERNS OVER THE SAFETY OF OUR CANINE COMPATRIOT IN THE PAST!” Papyrus pauses for a moment and rubs his chin. “WAIT! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAVE COME UP WITH A SOLUTION TO THIS CONUNDRUM! HUMAN! WHAT DO YOU THINK WE SHOULD DO? AFTER ALL! YOU ARE AN IMPORTANT PART OF OUR PUZZLE-CREATING TEAM!”

Since when are you apart of any team, let alone a puzzle-creating one?

You realize that if you suggest calling off the gauntlet, Papyrus would happily do so. This would make it both safer and easier to cross. However, you DO want to pet the dog, and you get the feeling it will run off the moment it is released.

You decide it take the easy route at the expense of dog-petting.

You tell Papyrus to follow his _heart_. Papyrus nods. Sans looks like he is chuckling to himself.

“I UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU MEAN HUMAN! EVEN IF YOU USED AN AWFUL PUN IN THE PROCESS! VERY WELL, AWAY IT GOES!”

The ‘puzzle’ retracts back into… thin air? Wait, where DID those things come from in the first place?

“WHEW!” Papyrus’ small outburst earns a raised eyebrow from you. “WHAT? DO NOT MISUNDERSTAND HUMAN! THIS WAS A DECISIVE VICTORY FOR THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AND WORKPLACE SAFETY EVERYWHERE! NYEH HEH HEH!”

Papyrus leaves while using his signature laugh. You and Asriel cross the bridge unimpeded.

“hey, kid.” Sans beckons you over. “paps is really enjoying himself. that being said, it looks like you’re gonna have to fight my brother soon... so, let me give you some advice. you know what a ‘blue attack’ is?”

You nod once.

“heh, i’m not surprised.” What does he mean by that? “welp, just in case, i’mma tell you anyway. blue attacks won’t hurt you if you stand still. if you need help… just think of stop signs. you know how stop signs are red? well, if you see a blue attack just think of a blue stop sign, okay?”

…That has to be the worst advice you have ever received, ever!

Regardless, you politely thank Sans for the advice.

“welp. guess i’ll see ya around, kiddo. welcome to Snowdin Town.”

Sans walks off, once again, in the opposite direction of town, you don’t even bat an eye at it this time.

As you enter the town proper, you ask Asriel how you’re supposed to get to the capital from here.

Asriel points toward a large cliff face near the edge of town. “Using the lift over there! There’s this huge lift that they use to transport supplies and people up the cliff! It’ll take us to the outskirts of New Home!”

You tell Asriel he seems really fired up about this lift-ride.

“Of course I am! It’s so cool! Plus, I don’t get to ride very often… my parents don’t like me coming out this far by myself.”

You silently wonder if there is time to get some food before the lift departs. Your stomach on the other hand, is not-so-silent about the idea.

“Uh, was that your stomach?”

You hesitate, before nodding once.

Asriel just smiles politely. “It’s fine, we have time! The next lift won’t leave for the next…” Asriel checks his watch, “15 minutes!”

The lift runs on a schedule? Actually, that makes sense, it’s the same reason trains use a schedule, or at least, try to.

“I know a place that has great pastries! This way!”

Asriel practically drags you behind him as the two of you make your way across town. Eventually, you find yourself inside a simple-looking… log cabin? On closer inspection, you discover that it is some kind of bakery; you can even see what looks like a large oven in the backroom.

The store clerk smiles as you walk in, “Hello, travellers. How can I help you?”

Asriel answers for you, “Two cinnamon bunnies, please!”

The store clerk takes two ‘bunnies’ and puts them in a paper bag. “That’ll be 30g.”

Asriel pays the clerk and the two of you leave. You can’t help but notice the clerk staring at you, her expression unreadable.

Once outside Asriel hands you one of the pastries. “Here! Trust me, they’re really good. Not as good as mom’s pies, but still…”

You received a cinnamon bunny. You examine it.

* Cinnamon Bunny – Heals 22 HP

* A small cinnamon pastry, shaped like a bunny. Smells delicious!

You hungrily devour the bunny. You feel your HP max out. Also, your stomach stops growling.

You thank Asriel and tell him you intend to repay him.

He just shakes his head. “No, its fine, I’m just glad I got to share these with someone else. Told you they were good.” Asriel pulls out the other bunny and starts eating it, “This way.” He says through a mouthful of bunny. “The lift is over here.”

The two of you make your way to the lift, the sight of which fills you with dread.

“Oh no,” Asriel seems to reach the same conclusion you did, “The lift is down.”

You stand there for a moment staring at the rock wall before you. You don’t think you could scale it even if you tried. Plus there would be no way to bring Asriel with you if you did.

You ask Asriel if he can fly.

“No, and even if I could, you can’t fly up this cliff.”

You ask why not.

“Because the wind coming off the cliff would just throw you around, and cause you to crash.”

Ouch. You have fallen to your death enough times today thank you! You ask if there is another way to the capital.

Asriel thinks for a moment, “Well, we could go through Waterfall, and then Hotland…”

You tell Asriel it sounds like a plan.

Asriel shakes his head. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”

You ask why not.

“Because… because, Undyne lives in Waterfall…”

You ask if this ‘Undyne’ doesn’t like humans.

Asriel shakes his head, “Not, exactly.”

Oh joy, more monsters trying to kill you. You sigh, and tell Asriel that you will just have to risk it.

Asriel starts to protest, but you have already turned and walked away. He reluctantly follows you, giving directions along the way.

You eventually reach the edge of town. A dense fog rolls in…

“HUMAN!”

Oh no, not this guy again…

“ALLOW ME TO TELL YOU ABOUT SOME COMPLICATED FEELINGS— HEY! QUIT MOVING!”

You’re not really in the mood for any more monologues, puzzles, or other nonsense. You tell Papyrus if he wants to capture you, this is his only chance. Papyrus frowns slightly.

“…VERY WELL! PREPARE YOURSELF, HUMAN!”

The fog clears…

You adopt your battle stance and check Papyrus.

* Papyrus – ATK 20 DEF 20

* He likes to say: “Nyeh heh heh!”

“NYEH HEH HEH!”

Papyrus sends a few bones towards you. You easily sidestep them… Was that even a real attack?

Actually, something about that attack felt off… Then it hits you, and you realize Papyrus isn’t actually fighting you. At least, not in any serious capacity.

You shake your head and tell Papyrus you won’t fight him.

“SO, YOU REFUSE TO FIGHT ME? VERY WELL, THEN I SHALL USE MY FABLED ‘BLUE ATTACK!’ BEHOLD!”

A veritable torrent of blue bones come flying toward you. You stand perfectly still and remain unharmed. You sigh and start to take a step forward, only to feel gravity shift. You fall face-first into the snow. You lift your head from the snow just in-time to get whacked in the head by a tiny white bone. Thankfully, it only did one damage.

“NOW YOU’RE BLUE! THAT’S MY ATTACK!”

…Sans! He tricked you!

You look yourself over, and realize that you are under the effect of blue magic. More precisely, grounded-gravity magic. So long as you are on the ground it will be harder to move, conversely, it will be easier to jump, and easier to control your movements while in mid-air.

Papyrus sends more bones at you. Now his attack from early makes sense, you can’t just side-step as before, you have to jump over the bones, otherwise you will end up tripping from the blue magic.

…This could be problematic.

You dodge the attack, and Papyrus summons more bones for you to dodge. You manage to dodge most of them, but you get hit once at the end.

This pattern continues for some time, and you end up losing more HP than you feel comfortable losing. You decide to try on throw Papyrus off his game, by flirting.

“FLIRTING? DOES THAT MEAN WE SHOULD GO ON A DATE?” Your plan seems to work for a moment, but Papyrus recovers his composure surprisingly fast. “LET’S DATE LATER! AFTER I CAPTURE YOU!”

You resist the urge to say ‘Kinky.’ But only just. This is not going well.

Asriel decides to help out. He casts a healing spell on you, restoring you back to max HP. Sadly, it doesn’t help with the physical exhaustion.

Papyrus stares between you and the prince for several moments, before sighing. “HUMAN! MINI-ASGORE! WAIT! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAVE DECIDED… THAT THERE IS NO NEED FOR ANYONE TO CAPTURE ANYBODY! YOU HAVE DEMONSTRATED THAT YOU CAN WORK TOGETHER WELL ENOUGH THAT I THINK… THAT I KNOW, YOU CAN OVERCOME ANY OBSTACLE IN YOUR WAY!”

Wait… was all of this some sort of test? That would explain why Papyrus laced his attacks with green magic. Attacks laced with green magic can’t kill. In fact, it’s a little surprising that Papyrus was able to infuse ALL of his attack with green magic and still ‘fight’ on top of that.

Papyrus is stronger than you gave him credit for.

“STILL, IT IS SOMEWHAT DISHEARTENING THAT I WAS UNABLE TO CAPTURE YOU. HOWEVER! IT IS FAR MORE IMPORTANT THAT YOU LEARN A LESSON IN TEAMWORK! HUMAN! IF YOU STILL WISH TO HAVE THAT DATE, YOU CAN VISIT ME AT MY HOME HERE IN SNOWDIN! MINI-ASGORE KNOWS THE WAY! OR, YOU COULD CALL ME! HERE IS MY NUMBER!” Papyrus hands you a slip of paper with his number on it. “IN THE MEANTIME, I SHALL BE RELAXING AT HOME, BEING A SUPER-COOL FRIEND! NYEH HEH HEH!”

Papyrus performs a series of impossible acrobatic maneuvers and disappears into the tree line.

Huh, it seems Papyrus may have been serious about that date… You don’t know a lot about monsters and how they age, so you decide to ask Asriel.

“…Yeah, about that…”

…Papyrus is older than you, isn’t he?

“Yes, he’s… 20? 21? Somewhere around there?”

…And he agreed to go on a date… with a child?

“I’m not sure he knows that, and if he does… Well, I’m pretty sure he only agreed to this to be polite. I’ve never seen Papyrus act mean towards anyone.”

You ask how he could NOT know.

“Well, I don’t know about humans, but monster children wear striped clothing to signify that they are children. Since monsters come in a lot of shapes and sizes, there has to be some way to quickly tell who’s a kid and who isn’t.”

You look at the shirt Asriel is wearing, it is striped. You look at the shirt you are wearing, it is the same exact shirt. You ask Ariel if he chose this shirt or if his parents did.

“They did, but it’s fine, I like this shirt.”

You turn around and head towards town.

“Wait, where are you going?”

You tell Asriel it is rude to keep your ‘date’ waiting.

* * *

Asriel was dumb-struck when he learned Angel intended to date Papyrus. At first he thought they were interested in older monsters, but after thinking about it, he was convinced that they were just playing along for Papyrus’ sake.

Yeah, they were just gonna show up, tell Papyrus they weren’t interested, and then they could leave.  
Asriel sat in the skele-bros kitchen staring at the wall, waiting. It shouldn’t be long now…

Angel and Papyrus were talking about something in the living room, Asriel couldn’t hear what but it didn’t matter.

…So why was he bothered by all of this?

Sans appeared out of nowhere and sat down in the chair across from Asriel.

“why the long face, kiddo? you jealous about your new friend having some ‘alone time’ with paps?”

Asriel huffed, “Don’t joke like that Sans. And I’m not jealous!”

“heh, easy there prince-y, didn’t mean to get your _goat_. but, you do know that paps is gonna let the kid down nicely, right?”

Asriel huffed again, “No, I figured it was love at first sight. Of course I knew!”

“hey now, no need to have a fit.”

Asriel could hear Angel and Papyrus head upstairs, they must have gone to Papyrus room, alone.

Sans shot Asriel a mischievous look, “normally i’d want to give my bro his space… but if you really want, we could go listen in on ‘em.”

Asriel nodded and Sans teleported the two of them outside Papyrus’ door.

They both quietly leaned into the door to listen in. They could barely make out bits and pieces of what was said.

…

“I’M NOT SURE HOW BEDS ARE ‘ESSENTIAL’ FOR DATING…”

…

“NYEH? WELL… THAT DOES SOUND INTRIGUING! I’M WILLING TO TRY IF YOU ARE!”

…Wait, what!?

Asriel can’t believe what he’s hearing, and judging from the fact that Sans’ eyelights have disappeared, neither can he.

Asriel could hear the squeaking of bedsprings. There’s no way…

“NYEH HEH HEH! I ALWAYS WEAR MY ‘SPECIAL’ CLOTHES UNDERNEATH MY REGULAR CLOTHES!”

…Special…Clothes…? Sans is starting to sweat.

…

“THERE IS NO SECRET TO MY LEGS, HUMAN!”

Asriel feels like he is about to faint.

The sound of squeaking bedsprings returns.

…

“HUMAN! YOUR DATE POWER IS…! NOOOOOOO!”

It takes all of Sans’ willpower not to break down the door right then and there. What the hell is that human doing to his little brother!?

…

There is the sound of Papyrus speaking, but it’s too quiet to make out.

What the two eavesdroppers can make out however, is the sound of footsteps approaching the door.

Sans teleports himself and the prince back down to the kitchen. Angel walks down the stairs and into the kitchen, their expression cold…

* * *

You ask the not-so-subtle eavesdroppers if they enjoyed the show. They each look at you with a perfect deer-in-the-headlights expression.

You tell them that nothing happened, but when you noticed them listening in, you decided to give them a ‘show.’

You tell them that Papyrus friend-zoned you, and that everything they thought they heard was just a ruse, created by you.

You tell them, better men than them have tried to be sneaky with you, and none have succeeded.

The two monsters now look thoroughly chastised.

You leave the house.

“damn. we just got played, hard.” Sans turns to Asriel, “do me a favour? try to keep that kid from destroying the netherworld, ‘kay?”

Asriel shakes his head, “No promises.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Time: The Chase  
> And now I’m on a watch list, aren’t I? Just to be completely clear, this is NOT a ship fic! Only canon ships here! Pun intended.
> 
> Also, THIS is why I have a beta reader! I completely forgot the trigger warning! That could have been a disaster.


	6. The Chat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A certain comedian wants to have a serious chat.

After an… interesting diversion at the skele-bros house, you and your princely navigator are finally on the way to waterfall. Judging from the name, it is probably very wet there, terrific.

After leaving town you find yourself in a dreary cave. According to Asriel, the entirety of waterfall is inside a cave network.

You notice a familiar looking structure on the far side of the cave, and behind it you see a familiar looking skeleton.

“sup, kiddo. didya miss me?”

No, but Sans’ puns are very amusing, so he’s not an unwelcome sight.

You use your worst bone pun on Sans. Asriel groans out-loud.

Sans chuckles, and responds with his own pun. You laugh lightly, Asriel does not.

“heh, i think i’m _ribbing_ our friend here the wrong way.” Asriel glares at Sans, Sans ignores him and looks directly at you instead. “listen, i was wondering if you and i could have a little chat?”

You were expecting this. Sans seems to have had you pegged from the start, so it’s only natural this would happen. Honestly, if Sans DIDN’T confront you, you would have been very worried.

You nod once.

“great. let’s go to gribbly’s, my treat. uh, would you mind waiting here, mini-asgore?”

Asriel looks upset, but you can’t tell if it’s from being left out, or from being called ‘mini-Asgore’ again. Regardless, Asriel shrugs nonchalantly.

“cool, thanks pal.” Sans turns back to you. “this way, i know a shortcut.”

You follow Sans around a corner…

And somehow end up inside a rustic diner.

You look out a window and see snow, so you must be back in Snowdin.

“don’t worry. i’ll take ya straight back to the other kiddo when we’re done here.”

He better, you do NOT want to walk clear across town, AGAIN!

The two of you walk towards the bar-like counter, Sans stops to chat and jokes with a few monsters along the way, but only for a few seconds at a time. You don’t pay much attention, instead looking at the table of dogs playing poker.

You must… resist… the urge… to pet!

Angel! Stay Determined!

Sans sits down and gestures to the bar stool, next to him. “here, take a seat.”

You sit down. Sans seems disappointed.

You smirk and toss the whoppie cushion you pulled off the seat to Sans.

“heh, ya gotta watch out. some weirdos like to put whoppie cushions on the seats.”

You glare at Sans. You felt him teleport that whoppie cushion onto the seat as you sat down. Unfortunately for him, your upper-body is still as dexterous as ever; snagging the cushion without Sans noticing was literal child’s play.

“welp, what are ya gettin’?”

You don’t know what’s good here, but you can’t go wrong with burgers, right?

“hey, that’s sounds pretty good. grillby, give us two orders of burg.”

The fire elemental behind the counter, apparently named Grillby, walks into the backroom.

You wait patiently for Sans to start asking questions.

Nothing happens.

Gribbly returns with two burgers and sets one in front of each of you.

Sans offers a ketchup bottle. “want any ketchup with your burg?”

You can tell that the bottle Sans is offering you has a trick cap on it. You shake your head once.

“welp, more for me.” Sans tips back the bottle and chugs the entire thing.

Well that’s a new one, even for you.

You decide not to question it and instead start to eat your burger. Sans doesn’t touch his burger. You continue to wait for Sans’ inevitable questions.

Nothing happens. On the plus side, the burger is pretty good.

You finish your burger and turn to look at Sans. He’s using a comb on the back of his skull. 

…Why?

“so… what do you think? about papyrus, i mean.”

That wasn’t the question you were expecting. You tell Sans that you think Papyrus is a colossal dork, but in the likeable sort of way.

“heh, yeah. my bro is pretty likeable, huh?”

…

You tell Sans there is no point beating around the bush. He sighs.

“yeah, guess you’re right.”

Suddenly, all sound stops. You recognize this spell. It’s called ‘Sound Barrier,’ it prevents any sound from entering or exiting its area of effect. Whatever Sans wants to talk about, he must not want anyone else to overhear. Right now, it’s just you and him…

“so, kiddo. mind telling me what your goal in all of this is?”

You decide there is no point in lying, you are pretty sure Sans would see through your lies anyways.

You tell Sans that you need to visit the capital.

“why? i mean new home is a nice place to visit, but i don’t think you’re here to sightsee.”

You ask Sans how many humans have fallen into the Netherworld.

“dunno, maybe you could guess?”

You tell Sans that was a rhetorical question, you already know the answer.

“…then why ask?”

You tell Sans you wanted to know if you could trust him.

“really? you’re asking rhetorical questions to determine trust? why don’t you just pull that trick from earlier? ya know, where you checked my SOUL?”

Wait, did sans notice that?

“yep. paps did too. and just so you know, that is considered rude by the way.”

…You tell Sans you’re sorry and ask that he tell Papyrus that you’re sorry as well.

“sure thing, but that doesn’t answer my question.”

You tell Sans—

“eh, forgetaboutit. what i really want to know is: why? what do you get out of this? if your trying to sabotage us… well, trust me, you aren’t gonna like what happens next.”

…You tell sans you have no intention of sabotaging anyone.

“…that’s the expression of someone who’s telling the truth. ‘course I can barely read ya, kiddo. that poker face of yours is golden.”

You thank Sans for the compliment, and complement him on his cold-reading abilities.

“shucks, kid. you’re gonna make me blush.” Sans’ insincere tone annoys you, but you say nothing.

You ask Sans if he could take you to the capital.

Sans waits several seconds before answering. “i could, but i think you should walk there under your own power.”

You ask Sans to explain why.

“heh, ever hear that it’s about the journey, not the destination?”

You have, but this journey can only ever end one way, and there’s no point delaying the inevitable.

You tell Sans that the saying is bullshit and he knows it.

“wow, guess you don’t have a swear jar at home?”

You coldly glare at Sans, he starts to sweat a little.

“yeesh, sorry, sorry, forget i said anything. anyways, since i can’t take ya to the capital, i guess i should at least offer some advice. when, not if, you meet undyne, start running and don’t stop ‘till you reach hotland. got it?”

You nod once.

“good. sometimes it’s better to run and live to fight another day, ya know?” Sans turns to look you dead in the eye. “unless, the living part is optional, of course.”

You don’t respond. You don’t even think about the implications of Sans’ words. You refuse to give Sans anything at all.

Sans stares at your face for nearly a minute before sighing and looking away. “ya know kid, paps was really worried about you. after he met you, he said something weird…”

* * *

“SANS! IS THERE SOMETHING WRONG WITH THE HUMAN?”

“uh, no?”

“HMM… THEN DO ALL HUMANS HAVE BROKEN HEARTS?”

“uh… you lost me bro.”

“THAT HUMAN, THEY CARRY A LOT OF HURT INSIDE THEM SANS. IT’S ALMOST LIKE THEY… AREN’T REALLY THERE, LIKE THEIR SOUL IS… MUTED.”

_you can imagine my surprise to hear paps say something like that. a muted SOUL? that didn’t make any sense. ‘specially considering how strong your SOUL is. if that’s ‘muted,’ i don’t wanna see ‘un-muted.’_

“SANS. THAT HUMAN IS WALKING DOWN A VERY DANGEROUS PATH. THEY NEED A FRIEND TO KEEP THEM ON THE STRAIGHT AND NARROW, OTHERWISE…”

“you think they might be dangerous?”

“DEFINITELY! I THOUGHT THAT WAS OBVIOUS? THAT HUMAN COULD HURT A LOT OF PEOPLE, SANS. BUT! I BELIEVE THAT ANYONE CAN BE GREAT PERSON IF THEY JUST TRY! AND LOOK AT ME! I BARELY HAVE TO TRY AT ALL! NYEH HEH HEH!”

_it was at that point i KNEW something was off. paps was scared, scared of you. maybe you didn’t notice, but nothing scares my bro, he’s got bones of steel, an iron will, and positivity coated in mithril. and yet, you managed to get under his skin, without even saying anything. not gonna lie, you were starting to scare me too._

“hey, uh… we could always call this whole thing off, just tell the human you aren’t feeling well?”

“NO SANS, WE PROMISED HI-JINKS AND LOW-JINKS, AND WE MUST DELIVER! BESIDES, THE HUMAN NEEDS US! I BELIEVE WE ARE JUST WHAT THE HUMAN NEEDS, TO LEARN A VALUABLE LIFE LESSON!”

“and what lesson is that?”

“----, SANS, THE HUMAN MUST LEARN ----!”

* * *

…You can’t understand.

You feel as if you’re missing something, something important… something obvious.

…

You can’t figure it out so you decide to ignore it instead.

“that expression… you really don’t know what i’m talking about, do you?”

You don’t respond.

“i’m sure you’ll figure it out, sooner or later…”

Sans’ Sound Barrier disappears, and the relaxing tune from the jukebox is a welcome distraction from the weird feeling in your head.

“welp, i let you pull me away from work long enough. come on, i know a shortcut back.”

You follow Sans out the front door. You end up back at the entrance to Waterfall.

Asriel comes running up to you and hugs you tightly. He doesn’t say anything, though.

“heh, guess he missed ya, huh, kiddo? anyway, if you need me, i’ll be here at my sentry station, keeping an eyesocket out for humans. if i see any, you’ll be the first to know. see ya ‘round.”

Sans lazily waves good-bye, before closing his eyes and pretending to sleep. You take this as your cue to leave… after Asriel releases you.

The two of you head for Waterfall.

It never once occurred to you, to ask why Asriel hugged you.

…It’s not like you could have understood anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Time: The Chase
> 
> Here, have some more skele-bros! Next stop: Waterfall!


	7. The Chase

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The children travel through waterfall, with the captain of the royal guard in hot pursuit.

If you had to describe waterfall in as few words as possible, they would be: cold, dark, and wet.

Thankfully, it seems that monsters altered the cavern to ensure that the major paths weren’t submerged in water. Otherwise, you would have had to wade through ankle-deep or even waist-deep water to progress.

So at least the water wasn’t going to be a problem, but the unreasonably-tall grass might be another matter.

If you get attacked by a Pokémon while walking through this grass… stars above, you will lose it.

You suddenly remember that there are no stars in the Netherworld.

You ask Asriel if the grass is safe, he nods and walks ahead of you to prove it. He stops at the edge of the grass, turns to you and offers his hand. You accept, mostly because you don’t want to end up accidently playing Marco Polo in a place like this. Or in any place for that matter… what a stupid game.

The two of you make your way through the grass, silently hoping Asriel knows where he’s going.

The two of you stop when you hear voices in the distance.

“UNDYNE! I’M HERE TO DELIVER MY REPORT!” That sounds like Papyrus. What is he doing here?

“…”

You strain your ears to try and make out the other person’s (Undyne’s?) response. But it’s too far away.

“YES! I FOUND A HUMAN!”

“…!”

You can’t make out what Undyne(?) said, but they seem excitable…

“WHAT? YES, I TRIED TO STOP THEM. I TRIED REALLY HARD, BUT…”

“…”

“WHAT? YOU CAN’T MEAN TO TAKE THE HUMAN’S SOUL YOURSELF!”

“…”

“BUT, UNDYNE! THIS HUMAN IS HURTING! YOU CAN’T JUST—!”

“…!”

“…I, I UNDERSTAND. I WILL DO MY BEST TO HELP YOU.”

The voices stop and you decide it would be best to get away from here as quickly, and quietly, as possible.

You lightly tug on Asriel’s hand and take a step forward, hoping he’ll get the message and follow you. You bump into something and it causes the grass to rustle. You freeze.

The sound of heavy, metallic footsteps can be clearly heard from the top of a nearby ledge. On top of that ledge is some kind of armor-clad monster, you can’t tell what kind.

They turn their head back and forth, as if scanning the grass for the source of the noise. You notice they have a blue spear raised high above their head, as if they intend to throw it at the first thing they see.

They look directly at you.

They don’t look away, and neither do you.

…

The spear vanishes from their hand, and they step back from the ledge, out of sight. You don’t dare move again until after the sound of clanking armor dies out completely.

You practically drag Asriel out of the grass, and notice that you have picked up a new companion, somehow.

You ask Asriel about the newcomer.

The stranger introduces themself, “Sup! I’m MK! Man, Undyne sure is cool, isn’t she!? And the way she looked straight at you! What did you do to get her attention?”

They say that like it’s a good thing.

You look MK over; they seem to be some kind of yellow, arm-less raptor. You notice they are wearing a striped-shirt and are about your size, so you assume they’re a kid, maybe about your age.

Despite asking a question, MK doesn’t wait for a response, “Yo! We should follow her! That way we can watch her beat up some bad guys!”

If MK were a comic book character, they would be that kid that follows the hero around and gets kidnapped in almost every issue. You are about to tell them off for being reckless, but they have already run off.

In their haste, they trip and perform and epic face-plant, before getting right back up and continuing to run. You sigh.

At least you know that one is an idiot. Better just leave them be, it’s not like they’re your problem.

You ask Asriel if he knows that kid. He shakes his head.

“Never even seen them before. But I did hear about some kids bothering Undyne while she was working; ya know, asking for autographs, stuff like that. Maybe they were one of those?”

Hmm… Maybe you could use that kid as a distraction?

…On second thought, relying on idiots never ends well for you, so you shouldn’t bother.

The two of you continue though the cavern. You spend some time solving some puzzles that involved lining up seeds to make bridges over the water. As you prepare to leave the room, you get a phone call. You answer it.

“HELLO? IS THIS THE HUMAN?” It’s Papyrus, again, again… You sign internally.

You ask Papyrus how he got your number.

“SIMPLE! I CALLED EVERY NUMBER SEQUENTIALLY, UNTIL I GOT YOURS!” That… Well, you guess that works. “HUMAN… I’M ASKING FOR A FRIEND, BUT ARE YOU WEARING A CRIMSON-COLORED ROBE?”

It’s not really a robe, but yes.

You just manage to stop yourself from answering. You remember how Papyrus said he would help Undyne, so you don’t know if you can truly trust Papyrus right now…

You lie, and tell Papyrus that you changed clothes.

“HMM… I SEE. *WINK* OKAY, I WILL TELL MY FRIEND! GOODBYE, HUMAN!”

Papyrus hangs up.

How the hell, did he audibly wink… over the phone!?

You mentally slap yourself when you realize something; you just played yourself. Papyrus must have assumed you were telling the truth, and will now tell his ‘friend,’ what you ARE wearing, thinking that you did, in fact, change clothes.

You make a mental note to never lie to Papyrus again.

Asriel speaks up, “So… I guess that means Undyne saw us, huh?”

You sigh and nod once.

“Well, maybe I can reason with her?”

Somehow, you doubt that would work.

You continue on your way, solving puzzles and catching glimpses of MK, running ahead and tripping a lot. Eventually, you come across a strange, blue flower.

You ask Asriel about the flower. The flower repeats your question.

Asriel giggles at your reaction before explaining, “It’s called an ‘Echo Flower.’ It repeats the last thing it heard over and over again, until it eventually turns into white noise. They’re cool, aren’t they? It’s unfortunate that they only seem to grow here in Waterfall. My dad has tried to grow them in his garden, but it never worked…”

It’s a bit hard to imagine the king of all monsters growing his own garden, but you suppose everyone needs a hobby.

The flower starts to repeat the last part of Asriel’s explanation. You decide to move on, before you get a headache.

After a little walking, Asriel speaks again, “Angel?”

You nod your head once, to signify that you are listening.

“There’s a room here in waterfall, called the wishing room. They say that if you whisper your wish into one of the echo flowers there, your wish will come true!”

You tell Asriel wishes don’t come true, unless you MAKE them come true.

“I— I know that! I was just wondering… Do you have anything you would want to wish for? I mean, I know we don’t have time for another detour, but… I was just curious?”

Hmm… Honestly, there’s nothing that you want. You have everything you could ever want. Your Determination is the only thing you need. That, and your trusty weapon.

You get the feeling Asriel will not be satisfied until you give him an answer, so you come up with something on the spot.

You tell Asriel you want to show him the stars. Real stars, not those star-looking gemstones in the cavern ceiling.

“Really? But, why?”

You tell Asriel that it is because the look on his face would be absolutely adorable. He blushes slightly.

“R-really? Um, okay then! It’s a promise! Someday, when we get out of here, we’re gonna go see the stars! Together!”

You promise Asriel that he will see the stars one day. He seems very excited.

…

You stop and whisper something to an echo flower. Asriel give you a curious look. You ignore him.

…

Sometime later, you tell Asriel to check out one of the echo flowers. He pokes the echo flower.

The flower insults Asriel’s sense of direction.

“Well, that’s mean… Wait, that’s YOUR voice!”

You nod, and inform Asriel that your insult still stands, because…

“Because, what?”

…

“Oh… Heh, um… So, it looks like… we’re going in circles?”

Must… resist… urge… to be snide…

You sigh and suggest asking for directions, it looks like there is a shop over there.

“Good idea…”

The two of you enter the shop and are greeted by a green turtle monster, or is it a tortoise?

“Woah there! I’ve got some neat junk for sale.”

Asriel’s ears perk up when he hears the monster speak, “Gerson? Is that you?”

The turtle/tortoise monster smiles, “Well, if ain’t the fluffy pipsqueak himself! Wa ha ha! What can I do ya for?”

You ask Gerson for directions to the capital.

Gerson stares at you for a moment before answering, “Do you even know what you’re asking? Well… I forget.”

“Please Gerson,” Asriel begs, “We need to get to New Home as quickly as possible. My friend is hurt and only my mom can heal them!”

Now that you think about it, your legs haven’t been bothering you as much lately. You must be getting used to it. This concerns you greatly; on one hand it means it’s a bit easier to move around, on the other hand you don’t like the idea of getting used to being injured.

“Hrm… Maybe…” Gerson seems lost in thought, “I think I might have a map of Waterfall around here somewhere… Let me check.”

You ask Gerson how much it will cost you.

Gerson laughs, “You’re sharper than ya look, huh? Don’t worry, it’s on the house! Asgore and I go way back, so it’s fine.”

While Gerson rummages through his collection of ‘junk,’ you decide to look around a bit. You spot a familiar-looking insignia on the rock wall. You decide to ask Gerson about it.

“Eh? You don't know what that is? That's the Delta Rune. You should know what it is, considering it’s printed on the back of your robe!”

You ignore the robe comment and clarify that you know what it IS. What you want to know is why it’s HERE, in the Netherworld.

“That emblem actually predates written history. Some say it depicts an ancient prophecy, some say it was the symbol of some ancient tribe or a secret cult. But down here, it’s the emblem of our kingdom. The Kingdom... of Monsters.” Gerson laughs, “Great name, huh? It's as I always say... Ol' King Fluffybuns can't name for beans!”

Asriel raises his hand, “Um, what’s this about a prophecy?”

Gerson laughs again, “Ha, you really are polite, for a whippersnapper anyway! The prophecy, if ya can call it that, states that… Actually, your eyes still work… How ‘bout ya read it yerself!”

Gerson tosses a small book to you. You open it to the bookmarked page. Asriel looks over your shoulder as you read.

_There is a prophecy._

_The Angel... The One Who Has Seen The Surface..._

_They will return. And the underground will go empty._

…You close the book.

…

They say that every great event it preceded by prophecy, but without the hero, there is no great event.

You can’t remember where you heard that, but it seems fitting…

Too bad you’re no hero.

You place the book on the counter, and look at Asriel. He seems lost in thought.

“Ha! Found it!” Gerson places a small map on the counter, “Take it! Oh, and try to avoid the dump! Some bridges around there have been falling down lately. Don’t say I didn’t warn ya!”

You thank Gerson for the map and the warning. Outside the shop, you and Asriel examine the map. After figuring out where you are, you find the shortest path to Hotland. That path does take you close to the dump, but not too close, so it should be fine.

You decide to lead the way for now, if only because you trust your own map-reading skills more than Asriel’s.

“Hey, um… This is gonna sound weird, but… Are you… The Angel?”

You knew he was going to ask this.

You remain silent.

“I guess that’s a stupid question. Even if you were, how would you know? Plus, everyone’s been trying to break the Grand Barrier for 3,000 years. Dad, mom, the royal scientist… everyone. You’ve been here less than a day, it wouldn’t be right to somehow expect you to break the barrier, just like that.”

You tell Asriel that it’s all right, you aren’t offended. He seems relieved.

You finally reach a large wooden bridge. It looks rather old and rickety. Thankfully, it seems solid enough to walk on. Further ahead, the bridge branches off several times, giving it a maze-like quality.

You double-check the map just to make sure this is the right way.

Something shoves you from behind!

You drop the map, and tumble to the ground, barely performing an impromptu roll to keep yourself from eating dirt, or rather, wooden plank.

You quickly turn around to see spears jutting up through the boardwalk!

Asriel must have pushed you out of the way, he seems fine, but the spears are blocking the path. You’ve been separated!

You hear a low growl and the clanking of metal armor coming from somewhere below you. You completely forgot about Undyne!

Suddenly, Asriel yells to you, “RUN!”

Now that you’re on alert, you can sense the incoming attacks and manage to narrowly avoid them. You decide to heed Asriel’s advice and run like hell.

At least you would if your legs weren’t so stiff. It’s more like a slow jog, really.

Even so, you manage to avoid all the attacks as you make your way across the maze-like bridge. The path branches several times, and you end up going down a few dead ends, looking for the way forward. Finally, the spears and the sound of clanking die down. You must be almost there!

You keep going, until…

It’s another dead end…

Of course it is… Why wouldn’t it be?

Groaning in frustration, you turn back, hoping to avoid the spear-crazed Undyne.

You stop dead in your tracks when you see Undyne in front of you, blocking the rest of the bridge.

You consider your options, carefully. So carefully in fact, you fail to notice Undyne ready another attack! A row of spears slice through the bridge between you.

You brace yourself for another attack, but it doesn’t come.

Instead, the bridge underneath you starts to shake violently.

Suddenly, it hits you.

Undyne cut the bridge supports!

The bridge collapses under you.

You blackout as you fall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Time: The Dump  
> Sadly, MK doesn’t really fit into this story as nicely as he does in Undertale. I could have included them more, if I really tried… but I’m lazy. Sorry, not sorry. Don’t worry though, they will return!
> 
> Also, a free internet cookie* for the first person to guess where the “preceded by prophecy” line came from. Hint: It’s a videogame.
> 
> *Internet cookie may or may not be real.


	8. The Dump

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The children find themselves down in the dumps. Teamwork intensifies!

…

“Hey, what’s up?”

\---

“Huh, did you finally find it? Congrats!”

\---

“What do you mean there’s ‘no point?’”

\---

“That— that’s not funny, don’t joke around like that!”

\---

“If you do that you’ll die! No one would be left to—!”

\---!

“No! I, I won’t let you! I won’t let you do this! I won’t let you kill yourself for those, those—!”

\---

“Please, stop. We, we could leave; we could explore the world. There’s a lifetime of adventures out there, just waiting for you! Let me show you! You won’t ever be bored again…”

…

“Please… My friend… I—!”

*Slash!*

“…Wh—Why? Why… would… you…?”

**…You Got In My Way.**  


* * *

You awaken with a start, your head still reeling from the dream; or maybe it’s from getting concussed for a second time today… It’s hard to tell.

It’s hard to stand too, but you manage after a few attempts. You look around you, trying to figure out where you are.

Looks like some kind of dumping ground.

…the last thing you remember was Undyne collapsing the bridge underneath you… Then falling…

You must have fallen into the dump that Gerson mentioned, terrific…

You look down at the ground and notice that your fall was broken by some golden flowers. That is the second time today you have fallen in these kinds of flowers.

You can’t tell if these flowers are lucky or unlucky. On one hand, they probably saved your life, again. On the other hand, you keep falling to your (near) death every time you see them today.

You sigh. There’s no point thinking about that now, you need to leave before Undyne shows up and tries to finish what she started.

You seem to be on a little piece of dry land, the ONLY piece of dry land in fact. The ‘island’ is only about 10ft in diameter, not very big at all, and surrounded by water.

You do NOT want to wade through this dirty water. You look around for something, anything to help keep you out of the water.

You see a nearby bridge, or rather, what’s left of it. The end of the bridge just barely reaches the edge of the island, so you might be able to climb up if you’re careful…

You take a step back to better access the bridge.

“Angel! Oh, thanks the stars, you’re alive!”

That’s Asriel’s voice! Where—?

Asriel comes charging down the bridge, waving his arms like he’s trying to get your attention.

He looks like an idiot.

Asriel reaches the end of bridge, and starts to lean down, “Here, take my—”

The bridge starts to collapse underneath him! You tell Asriel to jump! He does so, but he starts to fall at a bad angle. If he lands like that…!

You rush forward and try to catch Asriel. You succeed in breaking his fall, but his weight and momentum drag you both to the ground.

You swear loudly as pain shoots through your back.

You ask Asriel if he alright. He doesn’t respond.

You repeat yourself, louder this time. He lets out a soft whimper, releases you and stands up.

“That… that was so scary, I thought… Wait! Are you alright? Please tell me you’re alright!”

It appears he is in shock and didn’t hear you. The fact that he can stand means that he’s fine. You... well…

You quickly check yourself over.

* “Angel” - HP 16/20

* The fallen human.

Looks like your fine, no serious injuries. Or rather, no _additional_ serious injuries.

You stand up and tell Asriel that you’re fine. He looks relieved.

“Thank goodness. Now let’s get out of here!”

You nod and tell Asriel that’s a good idea, but… He follows your gaze to the now mostly ruined bridge.

“Oh… Golly, that really was close, huh?”

Who says ‘golly’ in this day and age? No really, who?

Asriel’s outdated dialect aside, how will you get out of this one? Not only do you have to get out of here, you have to take Asriel with you.

“Guess we’ll have to go through the dump, huh? Sorry…”

You tell Asriel you are NOT walking in that water! Walking through water like that would make people sick.

“Really? Um, I guess we should call for help.”

…You ask Asriel who exactly would mostly likely show up if you did.

“Most likely Undyne, she— Oh… Right…”

…

“…”

All you have around you are golden flowers and the remains of the bridge.

You ask Asriel if he can use his magic on the flowers.

“…And do what, exactly?”

You don’t know! Make a bridge or something?

“Sorry, I don’t know any ‘flower’ magic. I’m sure it’s a thing, but I’ve never learned anything like that.”

That’s just leaves the bridge…

…

…?

…!

You got it!

You ask Asriel if he can use blue magic.

“Yeah, everyone knows blue magic. Why?”

You ask Asriel if he could lift that section of bridge.

“…You mean that large, square-shaped piece? I could but, I’m not sure I could hold it for long…”

You tell Asriel to lift the piece about three feet into the air and hold it there for at least one full second. Can he do that?

“Sure, but… How does that help us get out of here?”

You tell Asriel to trust you and use his magic on your signal.

“…I trust you. I’ll do it, you can count on me!”

You nod once and ask if Asriel is ready.

“Ready! I think…”

You nod again. Asriel probably won’t like this plan, but it’s the only one you’ve got.

You lean forward… And lift Asriel off his feet! He makes a surprised bleating noise.

So he IS a goat, you knew it!

Focus, Angel! Focus! You noticed earlier that Asriel is very light, if he were human he would be considered malnourished with weight like that, but you think that might be considered healthy for a monster. They have less physical matter than humans, after all.

Now all you have to do is time this just right…

Holding Asriel bridal-style you break into a run.

You give Asriel the signal.

He lets out another surprised noise (at least this one sounded more human) and the board starts to float into the air.  
You leap forward and land on the board, right as it reaches the height you specified, and a split-second later you kick off it, leaping through the air once more.

You land on the stable part of the bridge right as the piece from earlier lands back in the water with a loud splash.

You stop to catch your breath. Man, that wore you out; you’re even panting like a dog.

Still, it got you out of that mess, and now you can follow the bridge out of this (literal) dump.

After catching your breath, you begin walking down the bridge. You are so done with Waterfall right now.

“Uh, um…”

You ask Asriel what’s wrong.

“Uh, well… I mean, I don’t m-mind, but… Could you p-put me down now…?”

…Oh.

Somehow, you forgot you were carrying about 10 pounds of goat.

You sheepishly apologize and set Asriel down. You can’t help but notice that Asriel is blushing a lot. You idly wonder if he was enjoying himself, or if he was just that embarrassed.

The two of you resume walking. After a few minutes you reach the end of the bridge and set onto dry-ish land. Finally!

You see a few piles of junk and what looks like an old combat training dummy. You ignore it and keep walking.

Suddenly, a voice rings out, “HEY!”

You stop and look around, trying to find the source of the voice. Your gaze falls on the dummy as it suddenly comes to life!

The dummy flies past you and blocks your way forward. “You don’t even have the nerve to face me? COWARD! I am a ghost that lives inside a dummy! And you! You ignored me like I’m nothing! I will never forgive you, human!”

You adopt a combat stance as the dummy begins conjuring… smaller version of itself?

You almost make a demeaning comment, when the mini-dummies shoot odd, fuzzy projectiles at you!

You manage to dodge them pretty easily.

Asriel tries to calm the dummy, “Please, we’re sorry. We didn’t mean to ignore you.”

The dummy doesn’t seem to care. “I don’t care!” Knew it. “Why is a Boss Monster helping a human!? Treason. Treason! TREASON!”

You weigh your options, it doesn’t look like talking will work here, and physical attacks won’t work on a ghost. Anyone who’s played an RPG could tell you that much. What to do…

More mini-dummies appear and attack you, but now they also attack Asriel as well. Attacking the prince, now THAT’S treason!

You both manage to avoid getting hit, the projectiles are kind of slow after all. Despite this, a few projectiles collide with the Mad Dummy.

It yells when struck, “Ouch! Watch it, you idiots! Careful where you aim those magic attacks!”

…That gives you an idea. A wonderfully wicked idea!

You suppress the urge to grin, and dodge the next wave of attacks, making sure to draw the mini-dummies fire toward the Mad Dummy. Several shots connect, which makes the Mad Dummy scream and curse.

Asriel seems to catch onto what you’re doing, because during the next attack he lures some attacks toward the dummy as well.

The dummy seems even madder, if that is even possible. “Gah! Fools. Fools! FOOLS! Stop hitting ME and hit THEM! That’s it! I’m cutting you losers loose, and using my dummy bots instead! Dummy bots! Use magic missile!”

These new dummy bots are a bit harder to deal with; the magic missiles follow you around and can even pull a 180-degree turn. The only saving grace is that they turn slowly enough that you can juke them by running in a tight circle.

Unfortunately, both you and Asriel seem to be having trouble getting these new missiles to connect with the Mad Dummy. The two of you manage to land a few hits, but not many.

The Mad Dummy seems angry that its minions can’t seem to hit you. “Dummy bots! You’re awful!?”

Looks like you need a new plan; you can’t keep this up forever.

You need to make a magic attack hit the Mad Dummy, and the missiles are proving to be a pain to use.

Another, less wicked, idea comes to mind.

While the Mad Dummy is distracted berating its minions and doing an arm-less ska dance, you sign the word ‘Fire’ to Asriel.

He looks confused for a second, before understanding dawns on him. He nods firmly at you.

Now to put your plan into action…

You call out to the Mad Dummy, and say that it couldn’t hit the broad-side of a building!

Your taunt makes the Mad Dummy even madder. It focuses all of its attacks on you!

Heh, idiot.

You dodge the attacks and signal Asriel with a wave of your hand and sign the number ‘2.’ Asriel conjures a pair of fireballs and sends them at you in rapid succession.

You quickly draw your weapon and swing twice, knocking both fireballs into the dummy! You quickly put your weapon away.

It screams again, “OW! What the—! Where did that come from!?”

Apparently, the idiot forgot Asriel is here, as even more dummy bots fire on you, and you alone.

You dodge, sign the number ‘2’ again, and repeat the process.

The Mad Dummy suddenly evolves into Livid Dummy! Okay, not really, but it does seem to officially lose its patience. “These guys are even worse than the last one’s! Useless. Useless! USELESS! I don’t need you! I don’t need any of you! I have knives!”

The Mad Dummy draws a knife, a physical knife, and throws it at you!

You effortlessly side-step the attack. The knife clatters uselessly to the ground.

You raise an eyebrow at the dummy.

“I—I’m out of knives…”

You sigh. This ghost really is an idiot.

The Mad Dummy starts yelling again, completely deranged at this point until several small things start falling on it.

“Ow! Wh—What is this!? Acid rain!? Forget this! I’m out!” The Mad Dummy flees leaving the two of you alone.

Another, quieter ghost appears from above, “Oh… looks like your friend left…” It’s Napstablook! “Sorry, it looked like you were having fun… I just wanted to say hi, and… I’m sorry, I ruined your fun…”

Asriel chimes in, “No, don’t worry about it! Actually, you saved us from that mean ghost!”

Napstablook cheers up considerably, “Oh, really? Well… I mean, I didn’t really do anything… I just, showed up? I guess… But, I’m glad you’re alright? Oh… I’m sorry, I just made this awkward didn’t I? I’ll let you two go now…”

Napstablook fades from view.

You kind of like Napstablook, he just apologizes too damn much. He also makes you want to share music for some reason, but that’s probably not his fault…

You ask Asriel if he’s alright. He nods once.

“I’m fine, didn’t even land a hit on me! You did really well, too! You’re a natural at dodging!”

You tell Asriel you would be even better if your legs worked right. He frowns.

“Well, don’t worry! I can see Waterfall from here! That means we’re almost to Hotland!”

Wait, you thought you were already IN Waterfall?

“Oh, um, technically we are in Waterfall Cavern. Waterfall Town is the actual, ya know, town part.”

Who. Named. These. Places?

You sigh and tell Asriel to lead the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Time: The Heroine  
> Teamwork! It makes the Dream-Work! Ha!  
> It’s time. Unleash the power… of ANIME!!! *Everyone goes Super Saiyan, except Sans ‘cause he’s too lazy.*


	9. The Heroine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angel and Undyne clash. Angel tells Asriel a story.

Waterfall Town is quite small; it consists of about three dozen buildings; unlike Snowdin which had over 100 buildings.

Even so, reaching this town means you are that much closer to your objective. You can only hope Undyne won’t have the audacity to attack you here, amid all these bystanders. If what Asriel told you is true, it does seem unlikely that she would.

According to Asriel, Undyne is the captain of the Royal Guard, an elite team of fighters and peace-keepers. They were founded to protect the citizens of the monster kingdom and to serve as the personal guard to the royal family.

Where was she when you and Prince Asriel were getting attacked? Though to be fair, after she dealt with the dummy, you would have been next… So maybe it’s better that she sucks at her job.

As the two of you walk toward the east end of town, a thought occurs to you, how did Asriel find you?

“Oh, that’s easy. After you and Undyne ran off, I was able to find another path forward. I followed it until I saw the two of you in the distance, and I saw… I saw you fall, and I, I was worried… And…” Asriel starts sniffling, it looks like he’s about to cry.

You tell Asriel not to cry. The last thing you need is to cause a scene and draw Undyne here.

Asriel does his best to keep it together, “Okay, okay, I won’t cry, I promise.”

You aren’t sure about that, Asriel seems to be a bit of a crybaby.

The two of you reach the end of town without any sign of Undyne. You hope that she is too busy searching the dump to come here. But you know you aren’t that lucky.

After leaving town Asriel speaks up again, “Um, can I ask you something?”

You nod once.

“Can I see your, um, weapon?”

You stop dead in your tracks.

Asriel seems to think your upset with him, because he quickly adds, “Uh, you don’t have to! I was just curious! My parents don’t like me having weapons, and I wanted to see yours, since you always… hide it?”

You sigh and tell Asriel that it’s fine, you don’t mind.

You steel your Determination, just in-case.

You pull your weapon out of your jacket pocket. You show it to Asriel.

“…Um, don’t take this the wrong way, but… where’s the rest of it?”

It’s true that at a glance this looks like nothing more than a sword hilt, however…

You flourish the hilt, and the blade slides out of the handle.

* Angel Blade – ATK 99

* A weapon forged by a legendary Sorcerer.

* Unique, Indestructible, and right where it belongs.

Asriel freezes, and for a moment you feel as though you’ve made a terrible mistake, until…

“That’s. So. Cool!” Asriel is practically drooling over the sword. You would have found his reaction hilarious, if you weren’t too busy calming down from your near-panic attack. “I really like swords! One day, I wanna have two of ‘em, so I can dual-wield them!”

You chuckle lightly, if Asriel is so interested, you could tell him about your weapon.

“Yes, please do!” Well someone’s excited. You warn Asriel the tale isn’t exactly pleasant, but he doesn’t seem to mind.

You tell Ariel the story…

* * *

Over 3,000 years ago, a human Sorcerer, whose name has been lost to time, was born the only child of a human and a Boss Monster.

Even from a young age, this human showed such great potential for magic, and eventually became a world-famous Sorcerer, the most powerful Sorcerer in history.

Apparently, there was a tradition from this human’s homeland, where everyone who masters magic, must create their own weapon, a weapon that perfectly matches the wielder. That human created this one-sided blade, and named it the ‘Angel Blade,’ a weapon of terrible might, that could only be raised by a just cause.

…That part is just legend though. Any human could wield this weapon, in theory at least. The weapon would shift and change to match its master’s preference, but only if that master was ‘worthy.’ No one knows the details, unfortunately.

…The rest of the story is… tragic.

This human, a child to both human and monster, was soon forced to fight in the human-monster war. They hated that the two races were at war, but still they fought on.

In the end…

This human…

…

They were the First of the Seven who created the Grand Barrier…

* * *

Asriel doesn’t speak, he doesn’t even seem to breathe, he just stands there, looking at you…

You tell Asriel that you’re sorry.

“No, don’t be. It doesn’t matter. The war is over now, right? Once the Grand Barrier is destroyed, once everyone is freed, then there’ll be peace, right?”

You tell Asriel you hope so.

“I, I hope so too… But…” Asriel suddenly smiles, “But you’re human! And if you and I can get along, then that means humans and monsters can be friends!”

Asriel’s optimism is somewhat infectious; you can’t help but smile a little as well.

Asriel continues, “Besides, it’s not like you created the barrier! The people that made it are long gone! Right?”

…That’s right. Humans only live about a hundred years, at most.

Asriel seems crestfallen, but only for a moment before he recovers, “Anyways! Let’s go! Hotland awaits!”

You can tell Asriel is trying to cheer you up for some reason.

…You can’t understand.

Some more walking and you find another field of tall grass. Asriel offers his hand again, and you accept. Holding hands, you follow Asriel’s lead through the grass, until you find a small clearing. There’s nothing here but an echo flower.

You tap the flower. An unfamiliar voice emerges from the flower.

“Behind you.”

You spin around, and there she is, Undyne. How did she sneak up on you with all that armor?

Undyne conjures a spear and charges toward you, but at the last second…

“Yo, Undyne! I’ll help you fight!” MK comes charging out of the bushes, right into Undyne’ s path!

Thankfully, Undyne was able to stop herself from spearing them, or anyone else for that matter.

MK, seemingly oblivious to the danger, speaks to you and Asriel, “Yo! You did it! You got Undyne right in front of you! Now we get to watch her fight!” MK looks around as if searching for something, “Wait, who’s she fighting?”

You and Asriel both face-palm.

Undyne is, needless to say, NOT happy about this turn of events. She grabs MK by the cheek, ouch, and yanks them with her towards town.

MK voices their discomfort, “Ow! Hey, you aren’t going to tell my parents, right?”

Huh, well it turns out that MK was a useful distraction after all.

You decide to get going while the getting is good. Thankfully, it seems Undyne trampled a path through the grass, or maybe that path was there before and you didn’t see it? Either way, you quickly follow it.

After a bit of hurried walking you find another bridge. Unlike the others, this one is suspended over nothing. All the others passed over water, or another bridge, this one passes over complete darkness, you can’t even see the bottom… assuming there is a bottom…

Asriel crosses the narrow bridge first, as if to prove that it’s safe. You carefully follow suite.

As you are about to reach the end of the bridge, you here MK’s voice come from behind you.

“Yo!” MK nervously approaches you until they are standing right in front of you.

You can’t help but notice that MK is standing _just_ out of reach, as if they were afraid of you taking a swing at them.

MK struggles to speak, before finding their voice again, “Um, Undyne told me about you, she said, ‘Stay away from that human!’ But, that can’t be right, if you were a human, that would make you my enemy, right?”

Asriel speaks up, “No! Just because their human, that’s does NOT make us enemies!”

MK yells back, “No, it DOES make them our enemy, Undyne said so!” Asriel growls menacingly, but says nothing. MK turns their attention back to you “Yo. Say something mean, so I can hate you… please?”

You tell MK that they are a clumsy idiot.

“What, that’s your idea of mean? My sister says that to me all the time!”

You tell MK that must be for a good reason then. They don’t seem to have a response to that.

MK takes a deep breath before continuing, “Fine, I’ll do it. I, I hate your guts!”

You are completely unfazed by such childish taunting.

In fact, MK seems more upset by their insult than you do, “Man, I’m such a turd. I, I should go now…”

MK turns and walks away. You are about to do the same, when two things happen.

First, Undyne shows up, and you do NOT like the way she is looking at you! You can’t see her face through her helmet’s visor, but you can FEEL her staring daggers at you.

Second, MK, once again, trips and falls off the bridge! They barely manage to cling to the side of one of the bridges support pillars. “Help!” they yell, “I’m, I’m slipping!”

You dimly wonder how they can hold onto the side of anything without arms, but there’s no time for that now!

Undyne takes a step down the bridge, and you know you need to act fast!

If you save MK, Undyne would likely pull them away from you, before spearing you through the chest. Your chance of dodging an attack from that position would be next to impossible.

But, if you abandon MK, there’s no guarantee that Undyne would be able to save them, there’s no guarantee that Undyne would even try to.

…What are you doing? You don’t benefit from saving this idiot! Why would you even bother? You decide to tell Asriel to run.

…Asriel…

…

You don’t know why, but you sprint down the bridge and grab MK just before they slip out a reach! You pull them up and onto the bridge.

MK seems to be in shock, regardless they manage to choke out, “You, you saved me…”

You brace yourself for a swift and violent end.

…But to your surprise, nothing happens.

You look up at Undyne, she hasn’t moved an inch. You still can’t see her face, but you can tell she can’t believe what she saw.

MK stands up and turns to Undyne, “Yo! If, if you want to hurt my friend, you gotta go through me first!”

Undyne’s disbelief only seems to grow. She says nothing. She simply takes a step back, and then turns and leaves.

Just like that, you’re safe.

MK’s bravado evaporates the moment Undyne is gone, they seem even more exhausted than you, “Man, now I REALLY need to get home… Thanks, um… thanks…” With that, MK leaves, without incident this time.

You finish crossing the bridge. You can’t seem to cross a bridge in this town without something going horribly wrong! You have discovered a new-found dislike for bridges.

Once safely on solid ground Asriel hugs you tightly. “I’m so glad you did the right thing! Thank you for saving them!”

Asriel is… proud of you? A part of you dimly realizes that you shouldn’t be praised just for doing ‘the right thing,’ but the rest of you wants to bask in the praise.

But one question remains, why did you save them? You put yourself at great risk, for absolutely no gain. That doesn’t make any sense! Why help someone, why save someone? What’s the point!?

And yet, you feel… something…

…You can’t understand.

You tell Asriel that you need to keep going. He releases you.

The two of you continue on your way. After a while, you reach the end of the cavern. You step outside and breathe in the fresh air. You look around and find yourself standing on top of a cliff, there is a small path leading toward a small mountain.

This whole thing looks man-made, or rather, monster-made.

While the path does lead into a cave, Asriel insists that it’s a ‘very short cave,’ whatever that means.

You approach the artificial-looking mountain but stop when you notice a familiar figure standing on top of it, Undyne.

She never gives up, does she?

“Seven.” Undyne’s voice carries all the way down to where you stand, “With the power of seven human SOULs, we will finally be able to break the Grand Barrier. Six. That is how many we have collected thus far.” Undyne turns to face you, “Understand? Through your seventh and final SOUL, monsterkind will finally be free.”

“No!” Asriel’s sudden outburst catches you by surprise; you didn’t know he could sound so… commanding, “It doesn’t have to be this way! We should be kind to the humans, not… not THIS!”

It seems he can’t bring himself to mention killing you, or even articulate the very thought of death. It’s almost endearing, however, Undyne’s behavior raises some unpleasant questions.

You ask Undyne if she killed the other humans.

Undyne hesitates before answering, “…No. No one killed the humans.”

If no one killed them, then how did they die? Asriel is the one who answers.

“They fell…”

You turn to Asriel, but he seems unwilling to elaborate. Instead you turn to Undyne hoping she will continue in his stead. She does not.

No one killed them, and yet they ‘fell,’ what does…

…Oh.

You fell as well, literally fell into the Netherworld. If it wasn’t for you Determination…

In the end, it doesn’t matter how. You ask Undyne if she would be willing to take you to King Asgore.

“Why? So you can assassinate him? Hah! As if!” Undyne tears off her helmet and tosses it down the mountain. “I know that even small humans like you can be dangerous if we let our guard down! The only way you’re going to see the king…” Undyne summons a spear and throws it, “Is in a SOUL container!”

You expected something like this, Undyne isn’t exactly subtle. You sidestep to the right and easily avoid the spear. Unfortunately, you realize all too late that the spear wasn’t meant to hit you.

The spear erupts into countless other spears as it collides with the ground, forming a makeshift barricade between you and Asriel. It seems Undyne is taking her duty to protect the royal family very seriously.

“Angel!” Asriel tries to break through the spears, but there are just too many of them.

You tell Asriel it will be alright, you can handle yourself. Asriel seems distraught.

“This isn’t like before! Papyrus wouldn’t hurt a fly! And I… Please Undyne, don’t do this! If you hurt them, I’ll never forgive you!”

Undyne seems stunned by this, but only for a moment, “That’s fine, I don’t expect you to forgive, Your Highness. But this has to be done, for everyone’s hopes and dreams…” Undyne turns her undivided attention towards you. “Now, human! Let’s end this, right here, right now. Step forward when you’re ready!”

You steel your Determination and step forward.

“That’s it, then…! No more running away! HERE I COME!!!” Undyne leaps from the top of mountain, and does an epic superhero-style landing tight in front of you!

Now you’re excited!

Before you can react, Undyne hurls a spear at the ground in front of you. It explodes into a shower of green sparks. You remember the green ‘attacks’ are actually healing magic, so why is Undyne…

You realize all too late that Undyne isn’t trying to heal you; she’s using a green magic spell that roots the target in place, making it impossible to dodge attacks!

Undyne wastes no time and lobs another spear at you, only this time, she’s not trying to harm you at all. The spear is facing away from the both of you, she GIVING you the spear! You think you understand this, she doesn’t want to leave you without any way to defend yourself. Her own sense of honor won’t allow it.

You don’t need any worthless pity, though.

You draw your weapon and slash the spear, breaking it in half with one strike. You wave your sword at Undyne, she flashes a menacing grin.

Undyne summons many spears and has them assail you from all sides! You can’t dodge, but you don’t need to dodge anymore. You didn’t want monsters to see your sword and get the wrong idea, but it seems your fears were unfounded. Now you can use the Angel Blade as much as you wish, and you decide to do just that!

You swing your sword and shatter the approaching spears, Undyne seems impressed.

“Not bad! Then how about THIS!?”

More spears appear, none of them even get close to you.

“For years, we’ve dreamed of a happy ending…”

More spears, you almost had to try this time.

“And now, the stars are just within our reach!”

You notice that some of the spears are yellow, you keep an eye on them. Sure enough, they’re trick spears! They spin around you and try to hit you from behind, you barely manage to react in time to deflect them!

“I won’t let you snatch it away from us!”

More spears, that last one was close, but not close enough.

“NGAHHH! Enough warming up!”

Even more spears, while this is quite fun, you’re starting to get tired a lot faster than you should… In your excitement, you forgot you were still injured! You should have been conserving your energy! This is bad.

As the wave of spears subsides, Undyne reels back and throws another spear directly at your head! You can’t block that one! The magic rooting you in place fades at the last moment and you are able to roll to the side, avoiding both the large spear, as well as a few smaller ones.

Undyne pauses her attacks and starts to prepare her rooting spell again. You decide to quickly check her.

* Undyne – ATK 50 DEF 20

* The heroine that NEVER gives up!

She’s never going to stop, is she?

You suddenly remember Sans’ advice.

_“when, not if, you meet undyne, start running and don’t stop ‘till you reach hotland. got it?”_

You thought he meant just run away when you saw or heard her, but now you know what he really meant.

You challenge Undyne, you say she’s too physically weak to defeat you. She seems pissed!

“Oh yeah!? I’ll show you physically weak!!!”

Undyne suplexes a boulder, just because she can!

“HA! Beat that—! Huh?”

Undyne turns and sees you rushing her! She prepares to block your attack, but you have other ideas.

At the last moment, you slide between her legs, and once you pass her, you hop to your feet.

“What? A sneak attack won’t help you!”

She turns again, ready to face you… But she only gets a good look at your back as you run into the mountain cave.

“What the—! NGAHHH!!! GET BACK HERE, YOU LITTLE BRAT!!!”

You have zero intention of doing that.

Undyne starts chasing after you, chucking spears the entire time!

If you focus, you can sense the incoming attacks and successfully dodge them. Undyne starts to switch up her strategy; she summons spears from the ground in front of you. You swerve left and right to avoid the tall ones, while jumping over or sliding under the rest.

You can’t keep this up… You’re getting more tired by the moment… Damn these injuries!

You finally escape the cave and find yourself in what appears to be a volcanic crater. This must be Hotland.

It is a very fitting name.

Between your previous exhaustion, and this heat, you know you won’t make it much further…

You run past Sans, who is sleeping in his sentry station.

You don’t have time to question how he, or his station, got here.

Thankfully, Undyne is more surprised by this than you are. She stops and yells, “What the hell!? SANS! Wake up, you lazy—! NGAHHH!!!”

She abandons Sans and keeps chasing you.

You manage to cross a bridge, but that’s it, you can’t keep going. No matter how much Determination you have, your body still has its limits, and you’ve reached yours…

You collapse to the ground, as darkness takes you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Time: The Bestie
> 
> Meanwhile, Asriel is still trying to get past those damn spears. Poor, poor goat-bro…
> 
> P.S. I was bored waiting for my beta reader, so I comprised a pointless song list. Enjoy!
> 
> Angel's Theme - Natural by Imagine Dragons  
> Angel's Battle Theme - Last One Standing by Simple Plan  
> Sans' Theme (Fluff) - The Lazy Song by Bruno Mars  
> Sans' Theme (Angst) - Popular Monster by Falling in Reverse


	10. The Bestie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angel and Undyne make nice, arson ensues.

…

…No.

No!

You won’t let it end here!

You force yourself to stand, and your vision starts to clear…

You’re still in Hotland.

You hear the sound of clanking armor behind you. You turn and see Undyne standing there. She looks as tired as you feel.

It comes as no surprise when she collapses just as you did. You take a chance and approach her prone form.

You didn’t notice before, but she appears to be some kind of fish-monster. She also seems to be blind in her left eye, judging from the eye-patch covering it.

She seems dried-out… That can’t be good.

You look around and find, of all things, a water cooler, standing a few feet away. You decide to get a drink.

You take one of the small cups, fill it with water, and down the whole thing in one go.

There’s still plenty of water left… You decide to get some for Undyne too.

Using different cup (using the same one would have been unhygienic) you bring some water over to Undyne.

You pour the water on her head.

After a moment, Undyne sputters slightly and stands up. She looks at you. The shame of being helped by an enemy is clear on her face. Despite this, she says nothing and walks away.

You doubt Undyne will be able to bring herself to fight you anymore. The only thing more shameful for a warrior than being saved by an enemy, is killing that enemy after they have shown you mercy and allowed you to leave.

You really hope that you don’t encounter anyone stronger than her down here. Then again, who could be stronger? She is the captain of the royal guard… the only person who should be stronger than her is the king and queen.

You already know you won’t have to fight them, so it should be easy from here on, right?

You grab another drink.

Asriel comes running down the bridge towards you. When he reaches you he hugs you again. You should be annoyed by the countless unsolicited hugs, but for some reason you are not…

“Angel! Thank the stars you’re safe!”

You start to tell Asriel what happened, when your phone starts ringing.

Asriel releases you, and you answer the phone.

“HUMAN! IT IS I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS! I AM CALLING YOU TO LET YOU KNOW, THAT I THINK YOU AND UNDYNE COULD BECOME GREAT FRIENDS!”

He has GOT to be joking…

“IN FACT! I AM ON MY WAY TO UNDYNE’S HOUSE IN WATERFALL! YOU SHOULD COME TOO! AND BRING MINI-ASGORE ALONG AS WELL! SEE YOU THERE! NYEH HEH HEH!”

Now wait just a minute!

Papyrus hangs up.

…

You do your best to remain calm.

“I think we should go! If you and Undyne just sat down and talked, I’m sure you could become friends!”

You ask Asriel what could have given him that idea?

“Well… You DID look like you were having fun fighting her…”

That is true, but having fun while someone is trying to kill you does not endorse friendship, it endorses you getting fitted for a straightjacket! Obviously, you don’t voice this thought.

“And both you and Undyne are huge weapon buffs…”

Weapons you both used to fight each other in a battle to the death!

“And you both want to break the barrier…”

…You can’t even argue with that one.

“And you both—”

Okay! Okay! You get it! He can stop now.

“Great! Let’s go!”

What, right now?

“Yup! Follow me, I know where Undyne’s house is!”

Yay…

You follow Asriel all the way back to Waterfall, and soon find yourself in front of a fishhead-shaped house. Papyrus is there to greet you.

“HELLO HUMAN! HELLO MINI-ASGORE! ARE YOU READY FOR YOUR SUPER-COOL HANGOUT SESSION WITH UNDYNE?”

Asriel responds before you can interject, “Yeah! Let’s go!”

You sigh, you know Undyne won’t pick a fight with you after what happened in Hotland, but Asriel has no way of knowing that.

Clearly no one has thought this through.

Papyrus knocks on the door and a few seconds later, Undyne opens the door and greets Papyrus, “What’s up, nerd! Are you ready for your extra special training session!?”

…Is this a hang-out, or a hook-up? You’re odds of surviving are unlikely either way.

Papyrus either doesn’t notice or doesn’t acknowledge Undyne’s faux pox, “YES! AND I HOPE YOU DON’T MIND! BUT I BROUGHT SOME FRIENDS ALONG! I THINK YOU WILL QUITE LIKE THEM! NYEH HEH HEH!”

Undyne smiles for some reason, “You made some friends? Awesome! Any friends of yours are friends of mine!” Undyne motions for Papyrus to step aside, he complies. “Sup! I’m Undyne! And you better be nice… to… Papyrus…”

Undyne’s smile slowly shifts to a strained grin. “Why. Don’t. You. Come. In?”

Asriel seems oblivious to Undyne’s half-manic grin, “Come on, Angel! I told you this was a good idea!”

Asriel’s own odds of survival just decreased from guaranteed, to likely.

The three of you enter Undyne’s house. She closes the door behind you. You can’t help but notice that she locked the door as well.

Papyrus speaks before an awkward silence can fall, “OH! I ALMOST FORGOT! THE HUMAN AND MINI-ASGORE BROUGHT A GIFT FOR YOU!” You did, when? This is the first you’ve heard about it!

Papyrus hands Undyne a gift-wrapped bone. Undyne smiles politely. “Thanks, Papyrus. I’ll, uh… Put it with the others.” She opens a drawer and places the bone inside, you notice that the drawer is filled to bursting with similar-looking gifts.

Papyrus makes a surprised noise and claps his hands to his cheeks. You honestly can’t tell what kind of emotion he is trying to fake here. “I JUST REMEMBERED THAT I HAVE A VERY IMPORTANT, PRIOR ENGAGEMENT THAT I SIMPLY CANNOT IGNORE! I AM SORRY, MY FRIENDS! BUT I MUST LEAVE YOU! PLEASE BE SURE TO HAVE FUN! EVEN THOUGH I HAVE LEFT YOU!”

With a hearty ‘Nyeh heh heh,’ Papyrus leaps though one of Undyne’s windows, one of Undyne’s closed windows.

That looked like it hurt, a lot.

Regardless, it doesn’t even slow Papyrus down.

Undyne seems mostly unfazed by what just happened. She turns to you, a clearly angry look in her eyes, well one eye. Would it be rude if you asked about the eye-patch? “Listen punk! I don’t know what kind of saccharine crap you pulled on Papyrus, but it won’t work on me! Now, get out!”

Papyrus appears in the now-shattered window, “OH NO! IT SEEMS UNDYNE DOES NOT WANT TO BE FRIENDS WITH YOU! I GUESS SHE JUST WASN’T UP TO THE TASK!” And with that, he runs off again.

Undyne balks at Papyrus’ words, “WHAT!? I can befriend this weeny any day, anytime!”

Asriel chimes in, “Well then, prove it!”

“You know what!? I WILL! But I’m not gonna just befriend this punk! We’re gonna be BESTIES! Hah! It will be my ultimate revenge!” Undyne starts laughing manically.

Somehow, against all odds… You are even MORE likely to meet a horrible end than before!

You glare at Asriel, but he seems too pleased with himself to care.

“All right, punk! Let’s do this thing!” Undyne is even more fired up than Papyrus and Asriel combined, this fish-lady really doesn’t do things half-way does she? “Sit down! You’re the guests here after all!”

You and Asriel comply and sit down at the table.

“You guys want something to drink?” Undyne doesn’t wait for a response before opening the fridge and placing some things on the counter, “Here, pick the one you want.”

You look over the options, as best you can from this distance. You stand up for—

A spear embeds itself in the table!

Undyne yells, “HEY! YOU’RE THE GUEST! STAY SEATED!” This is starting to feel like a hostage situation. “Uh, what I means is, just point at what you want, with the spear! Yeah! That’s what I meant.”

You don’t believe that for a second, but you decide to keep your mouth shut for the time being.

You grab the spear and point at the box of tea. It’s clearly the correct choice, after all.

Undyne and Asriel both seem pleased by your choice. “Sure thing, punk!” Undyne quickly sets to work brewing the tea, this could take a while, but that’s fine, you could use a quiet moment.

You ask Undyne about her eye-patch, was she injured in the Human-Monster war?

Asriel seems shocked that you said that, Undyne just laughs, “How old do you think I am!? The only person I know who was around for that is Gerson! The King and Queen too, but that goes without saying.”

Undyne takes a deep breath, “No, I lost the eye in training. I was really feisty when I was younger, I wanted to prove I was the strongest, that I could beat anyone. I wasn’t paying enough attention to my own attacks, my own posture… I got knocked off balance and took a really bad fall. That would have been bad enough, except I landed on one of my spears. Gerson, who was training us, saw what was happening… He saved my life that day, but…”

Undyne lightly brushes her hand against her eye-patch, “I lost my eye, but I gained a permanent reminder that—”

The teapot starts whistling.

Undyne stops telling the story and instead takes the teapot off the heat and pours three cups. She hands two of them to you and Asriel. She then takes a seat herself. “Careful, it’s hot.”

You and Asriel each take your tea, you gently blow on yours.

“It’s not THAT hot, just drink it!” Undyne remembers her manners a moment later and clamps her mouth shut.

You and Asriel both sip the tea.

…

It’s pretty good. You ask Undyne what flavor it is.

“It’s golden-flower tea,” she says. “It’s funny actually, that you would choose THAT tea. This tea is King Asgore’s favorite. He actually gave me this box of the stuff; it’s really grown on me.”

Undyne stares at you, seemingly lost in thought.

You are about to say something, when she speaks up, “You know, you kind of remind me of him.”

Who?

“Asgore, I mean, you’re both total weenies! …You know, when I first met Asgore, I challenged him to a fight! …I lost, bad. I tired as hard as I could, but I couldn’t even land a hit on him. After a while, I just collapsed from exhaustion, I never felt so humiliated. Then, the big goober says to me, ‘Excuse me, do you want to know how to beat me?’ Like I didn’t just wear myself out trying to kick his ass in the first place! He started training me after that and eventually… I managed to knock him down… But… I expected to feel proud after getting so far, but instead… I felt bad. That’s when the big guy gets back up with the goofiest grin on his face, like he was proud to lose!”

You finish your tea, still engaged by Undyne’s story. You ask her if that’s how she became captain of the royal guard.

“No, I was captain WAY before that! I became captain when Gerson retired. Now I’m the one who calls the shots, and trains the rookies!”

She trains the rookies? You are about to ask her about Papyrus, but Asriel beats you to the punch, “So does that mean you’re training Papyrus?”

Undyne looks away, “Yeah, at least, that was the plan. But, Papyrus… He could never join the royal guard. It’s not like he’s weak or anything! Papyrus is really tough! It’s just that he’s far too nice for his own good. If I sent him into battle, he’d get torn into a bunch of little, smiling, pieces. So, I decided to teach him how to cook instead. You know, so he could do something else with his life.”

That seems— Wait, that means Undyne is the reason Papyrus can’t cook?

Undyne suddenly leaps from her chair, “Wait! That’s right! Papyrus and I are supposed to be having our cooking lesson right now!” She eyes the two of you. “Well, since Papyrus isn’t here… I guess YOU will have to have his lesson instead!”

That’s not how lessons work!

Before either of you can say anything, Undyne leaps over the table and grabs you, putting each of you under an arm, before leaping over the table again and dropping you both in front of the counter.

“All right! Let’s start cooking!” Undyne slams her foot into the ground, and some tomatoes and a banana fall from above. “We’re going to make our own sauce!” What the hell kind of sauce could you make with a banana!? “Imagine these vegetables as your most hated enemy! And SMASH THEM! Turn them to sauce with your human rage!”

What the hell kind of rage does she think humans have!?

…

You pointedly try not to think about that.

You sigh and lightly punch at the fruit. Are tomatoes fruits or vegetables?

Either way, you successfully knock over one tomato. Asriel opens his mouth to say something, but Undyne cuts him off, “GAH! FINE! Allow me!”

Undyne reels back and pulverizes the assorted food items into a multi-colored paste. Most of the paste ends up covering the wall; some of it ends up covering the three of you. Asriel starts coughing and gaging. His mouth was still open, wasn’t it?

Undyne looks at the mess she made, “Don’t worry, we’ll scoop it into a bowl later.” You are so not going to eat this. Ever. “Next up is the noodles!” Undyne slams her foot into the floor again, this time a box of noodles falls from above. Where is she keeping these things? “Homemade noodles are the best! …But we will be using the store-bought stuff instead. It’s cheaper!”

Undyne slams her foot AGAIN and a pot falls onto the stove top. That seems incredibly unsafe, even more so than everything else. “All right, punk! Throw these noodles into the pot! Box and all! It’ll add fiber!”

You sigh. Of course she would think of it like that. You take the box and toss it into the pot. It clangs against the empty bottom.

Asriel looks like he desperately wants to say something, but Undyne cuts him off again, “Now it’s time to stir it! The more you stir the better it tastes! So stir as hard as you can!”

You start stirring.

“Harder! Stir HARDER!”

You won’t stir any harder; you are still a little tired from your fight earlier.

“HARDER!”

You keep going at your original pace.

“NGAH! Let me!”

Undyne stabs the noodles, AND the pot, until both are utterly destroyed.

“Now! Turn up the HEAT! Cook those noodles with the FIRE of you PASSION!!”

You don’t know if Undyne is even talking about cooking anymore, or if she is making some obscure quote. You decide not to question it, and instead turn on the stove burner.

“That’s not hot enough! Higher!”

You crank the heat to maximum.

“Higher!”

You keep turning the knob in circles.

“HIGHER!”

You keep turning.

“HIGHER!!!”

You lose count of how many rotations you’ve made. Wait, was the stove always on-fire?

Undyne seems to notice that too, “WAIT THAT'S TOO—!”

The entire house explodes into flame. It’s a good thing your armor is fire-proof.

Undyne looks around the house, and seems mostly unperturbed by the sight of it burning. She speaks as if nothing happened, “So, what’s next? Secret-sharing? Friendship bracelets?”

You look at Asriel. He is standing completely still, covered in soot and looking thoroughly traumatized.

You look back at Undyne, she sighs.

“I know. I thoroughly screw— I mean, messed up. Sorry, I guess this means we can’t be friends. But, if we can’t be friends, that means we can be enemies again! All right, house-guest or not! I’m going to regain my honor! I WILL defeat you! Hit me with everything you’ve got!!!”

Undyne draws a spear and stares you down, awaiting your attack.

You can tell she doesn’t want to fight you, that all of her talk earlier was just a front.

You real back a throw a punch. You manage to inflict one damage.

Your heart just isn’t in it. You can’t bring yourself to hate her, even after she tried to kill you.

Undyne seem surprised, “So even after all THAT, you still can’t bring yourself to hurt me? Huh… I guess… If we can’t be enemies, it looks like we’ll just have to be friends instead! Now come on, bestie! Let’s get the hell out of this burning house!”

You both grab Asriel and charge out the front door.

Once safely outside, the three of you stare at the burning house. Only fire lives here now.

Undyne is the first to break the silence, “Wow, no wonder Papyrus sucks at cooking!”

You and Asriel give Undyne a look that just screams, ‘No shit, Sherlock!’

Undyne chuckles nervously, “W-well! Looks like I’ll just have to crash at Papyrus and Sans’ place for now. Just call them if you want to talk to me, I’ll be there! See ya, punks!” Undyne runs off.

Should you call someone about the burning house, or…?

Asriel sighs, “Well, that could have gone better…”

You tell Asriel that, no, it could not have gone better, you both survived and that was the best possible outcome. Asriel doesn’t know how to respond to that.

You both make your way back to Hotland, although with that fire, you might as well have never left that overheated hellhole.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Time: The Killer Robot
> 
> Arson! Yay! In all seriousness though, the fallen human handled that well, huh?  
> I hope you have been paying attention, there will be quiz later…


	11. The Killer Robot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The children encounter a nerdy lizard and a killer robot.

Hotland sucks!

You hate everything about this place, and you haven’t even been here for 3 minutes!

You ask Asriel how he can stand this heat.

“Well… I don’t know how to explain it, but Boss Monsters like me don’t have to worry about the temperature. Our fur magically insulates us, or something.”

You start to ask Asriel for details but realize he probably doesn’t know any more than that. You instead reach out and hold your hand to his forehead. His fur is cool to the touch.

“…Um, are you going to pet me again?”

You tell Asriel that his fur dissipates heat in a similar fashion to a heat sink. But instead of simply absorbing excess heat from his body, his fur seems to actively dispel is, giving the illusion that his fur is cold.

Asriel nods slowly. You ask him if he even understood what you just told him. He shakes his head.

“Only a little bit, sorry.”

You sigh. You idly wonder if you could make a coat out of Asriel’s fur. Monsters turn to dust when they die, but would the same thing happened to fur or scales removed from the body?

“This way! If we take the elevator we can avoid a LOT of walking!”

You won’t say ‘no’ to less walking. You walk the direction Asriel is pointing.

…And get zapped by some kind of forcefield!

“Are you okay!? The forcefields shouldn’t be on at this time of day!”

Forcefields? Great… You ask if there is a way to turn them off.

“There is, but I don’t know how to though… Wait, the royal scientist would know! We should look at the lab.” Asriel points to a nearby metal structure, it has the word ‘Lab’ written on a sign above the door.

…At least it’s not a secret lab, so there’s that. Nothing good ever comes from a secret lab.

The two of you make your way to the lab.

…

It’s dark as hell in here…

The two of you slowly inch your way forward, trying not to bump into anything. Asriel calls out, “Hello? Is anyone there?”

Suddenly, a computer monitor turns on, revealing an image… of you? Wait, this is showing you in real-time! You look around at the now slightly illuminated room. Where is the camera, why can’t you find it!? You can’t stand the idea of someone watching you without you knowing! It’s creepy, it’s the ONE thing that creeps you out! That and giant, human-sized spiders.

Asriel seems to notice your growing panic and starts to say something, but he is cut off by the sound of doors opening.

The light suddenly turn on, the change in lighting leaves you momentarily blind.

After your vision clears, you see a yellow reptile monster standing before you. They are dressed like a stereotypical scientist, white scrubs and all. Or maybe they’re a doctor? Is this the royal scientist?

The yellow reptile speaks, their voice slightly feminine, “Oh my stars! You’re here! I wasn’t expecting you so soon! I’m a mess, I haven’t bathed—!”

Asriel steps forward, “Calm down, Alphys, its fine. Everything is fine. Deep breaths, okay?”

The yellow lizard, Alphys apparently, takes a moment to calm down, then she(?) speaks again, a slight nervous stutter in her voice, “H-hello! My name is Alphys, um… D-Dr. Alphys! I…” Alphys turns toward the monitor next to you and smiles sheepishly, “I was, um… Monitoring! Yes, monitoring your progress through the Netherworld! I was actually supposed to report you to Asgore, but…” She trails off.

Asriel finishes for her, “But you had a change of heart?”

Alphys nods, “Yes, I actually want to help you. Watching someone on a screen really makes you root for them, you know? Anyway, when it looked like you might be heading this way I decided to… help you! I can help you navigate Hotland, no problem!”

That’s a relief; you did NOT want to walk through this volcanic hellhole.

You are about to ask her about the forcefield when she interjects, “Oh, there, um, might be one little problem, actually. Um, some time ago I build a robot, and later I decided to make him more useful! You know, some basic upgrades, like, um… a-anti-human combat f-features, heh…”

…What?

“But as soon as I found out you were here, I removed them!”

Oh, thank the stars! You were still tired from fighting Undyne!

“But… I, um… M-made a m-mistake?”

…Again, What?

“A-and now he’s, um… A-an unstoppable-killing-machine-with-a-thirst-for-human-blood?”

…How…? How does anyone, make a mistake like that!? How does that even WORK?

“B-but, don’t worry I’m sure we won’t run into him!”

Famous. Last. Words.

Suddenly, Alphys cries ‘Oh no!’ and one of the walls explodes!

Once the smoke clears, you see him, the killer robot Alphys designed.

…

It looks like a calculator with arms, riding a unicycle.

The robot speaks in an overdramatic tone, while cheesy game show music plays in the background, “OHHHH YES! IT’S TIME! WELCOME BEAUTIES AND GENTLEBEAUTIES! TO TONIGHT’S GAME SHOW! I AM YOUR ROBOTIC HOST, METTATON! NOW, PLEASE GIVE A ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR OUR CONTESTANT!”

A spotlight shines down on you and confetti starts to fall around you. Looks like you’re the ‘contestant,’ yay…

“FIRST TIME PLAYING, BEAUTIFUL? DON’T WORRY, THE RULES ARE SIMPLE: ANSWER CORRECTLY… OR YOU DIE!”

You know, you used to like game shows. In fact, you would probably watch a game show with death on the line. Keyword: ‘Watch!’

“READY, GORGEOUS? LET’S BEGIN WITH AN EASY QUESTION!”

* What is your prize for answering correctly? *

The quiz is multiple-choice, at least. Looks like you will have up to four options for each question.

Asriel whispers something to Alphys, who nods and turns to you. She signs the letter ‘D.’ Mettaton seems to be giving you his undivided attention, so he doesn’t notice.

You choose ‘D, More Questions’

“CORRECT!”

Canned-applause plays. You decide to check Mettaton.

* Mettaton – 10 ATK 999 DEF

* His metal body renders him invulnerable to physical attacks.

“HERE’S YOUR TERRIFIC PRIZE!”

* What’s the king’s full name? *

You’re sure you don’t need help for this one, but you decide to subtly check with Alphys. She signs ‘C.’

You choose ‘C, Asgore Dreemurr.’

“CORRECT! WHAT A TERRIFIC ANSWER!”

You don’t like this robot’s attitude. You resist the urge to scream something profane.

“ENOUGH ABOUT YOU. LET’S TALK ABOUT ME!”

* What are robots made of?”

You choose ‘B, Metal and Magic.’

“TOO EASY FOR YOU, HUH? HERE’S ANOTHER EASY ONE FOR YOU!”

* Two trains, Train A, and Train B, simultaneously depart Station A and Station B. Station A, and Station B are 252.5 miles—*

You don’t even pretend to read all that. You choose ‘D, 23.058 minutes.’

“WONDERFUL! I’M ASTOUNDED, FOLKS!”

The rest of the quiz follows a similar pattern, with Mettaton throwing more and more underhanded trick questions at you, until…

“TIME TO BREAK OUT THE BIG GUNS!!”

* In the dating simulation video game "Mew Mew Kissy Cutie" what is Mew Mew's favorite food? *

Alphys raises her hand and begins speaking too fast for you to follow. After several seconds she stops and gives Mettaton a guilty look.

Mettaton wags his finger mockingly at Alphys, “ALPHYS, ALPHYS, ALPHYS. YOU AREN'T _HELPING_ OUR CONTESTANT, ARE YOU? OOOOOOH!!! YOU SHOULD HAVE TOLD ME. I'LL ASK A QUESTION… YOU'LL BE SURE TO KNOW THE ANSWER TO!”

* Who does Dr. Alphys have a crush on? *

Well this took a turn, didn’t it?

Alphys is waving her arms as if trying to stop you from answering, meanwhile, Asriel signs the letter ‘A.’

You choose ‘A, Undyne.’

Mettaton strikes an overdramatic pose, which is impressive considering he is basically just a rectangle with arms. “SEE, ALPHYS? I TOLD YOU IT WAS OBVIOUS. EVEN THE HUMAN FIGURED IT OUT. YES, SHE SCRAWLS HER NAME IN THE MARGINS OF HER NOTES. SHE NAMES PROGRAMMING VARIABLES AFTER HER. SHE EVEN WRITES STORIES OF THEM TOGETHER... SHARING A DOMESTIC LIFE. PROBABILITY OF CRUSH: 101 PERCENT. MARGIN OF ERROR: ONE PERCENT.”

Hmm… Yeah, you can totally see that. You now officially ship Alph’dyne, or would that be Und’phys? Whatever it is, they would be super cute together.

“WITH ALPHYS HELPING YOU, THIS SHOW HAS NO DRAMATIC TENSTION! WE CAN’T GO ON LIKE THIS! BUT. BUT! THIS WAS JUST THE PILOT EPISODE! NEXT UP, MORE DRAMA! MORE ROMANCE!! MORE BLOODSHED!!! UNTIL NEXT TIME, DARLINGS!”

Mettaton’s wheel retracts into his metal body and turns into a rocket nozzle. He takes flight and leaves through an open window.

Good riddance! Sadly, you doubt that will be the last you see of him.

With Mettaton gone, you finally get to ask Alphys about the forcefield.

Alphys nods along as you speak. Once you finish, she walks over to the large monitor and sits down in front of the computer next to it. After typing away on her keyboard, she sighs, “L-looks like Mettaton m-made a m-mess of my firewalls. Um, it will take q-quite some time to f-fix this…”

How long?

“About a d-day.” What? “B-but! There’s another way! N-not all the paths have b-been blocked off! I think there should be a path through… there!” Alphys points at her screen, you can’t make out what she’s pointing at. “If you g-go out the lab’s east entrance, and head t-towards the eastern elevator… You should be able to b-bypass the forcefield! Unfortunately, it l-looks like other forcefields are blocking the way. I sh-should be able to help you navigate around them. Um, c-can I see your phone, please?”

You hand Alphys your phone.

“So this is what a modern human phone looks like…”

You tell Alphys that your phone is four years old.

“Wow, r-really? You must take good care of this thing!”

Not really, you just never had to use it. You keep this fact to yourself.

“O-okay! One moment, p-please!”

Alphys runs off with your phone, and a few seconds later you here a plethora of sounds coming from that direction.

…Was that a chainsaw you heard?

The sounds die down and Alphys returns. She hands you your phone, it seems… shinier?

“I upgraded your phone, g-gave it some useful f-features, like dimensional storage, a jetpack, enhanced zoom for the camera, and a SOUL-wave emitter! Y-you know, simple stuff.”

A jetpack…!?

“D-don’t get t-too excited… It um, can’t hold much f-fuel, um… So! Only use it in an emergency! O-okay…?”

That’s a shame; a jet pack with enough fuel could take you out of this whole mess.

You nod once.

“Okay! I-I’ll call you and give you directions wh-when needed, okay? Don’t worry…! I’ll, um, monitor you from here…” Alphys offer a nervous chuckle as you look between her and the giant monitor, a monitor that is STILL locked-on you!

You sigh and tell Alphys ‘thank you.’ She seems relived.

“Okay! Um, g-good luck…?”

You and Asriel wave goodbye to the nervous lizard and head east, toward the distant elevator.

Hotland sucks! It’s too damn hot!

After several minutes of walking, and trying very hard not to complain about the heat out-loud, the two of you reach the elevator.

Oh, thank the stars these things have AC!

You notice that the elevators can apparently go side-to-side as well as up-and-down, strange… Sadly, it seems most of the places you could go are disabled. This must be because of Mettaton.

You choose the only option available, and ride the elevator up.

Once you disembark the elevator, you encounter two guards in heavy-armor. They stop the two of you and ask if you’ve seen a human around. Asriel starts to panic, but you play it cool… despite the heat.

You happen to be a great match-maker; you can tell these two want each other. They just need a little push…

One push and a heartfelt confession later and the guards are too busy staring into each other’s eyes to pay you any mind. You and Asriel slip away unnoticed.

Asriel is practically beaming right now, you don’t know why. You decide to ask him about it.

“How did you do that!? Wait, Undyne said humans can mind-control people by kissing them or something, I didn’t believe her, but…”

You tell Asriel it wasn’t that, additionally, you have NO idea what Undyne could have meant by that. You tell Asriel that you are just a great match-maker.

“…What’s a ‘match-maker’?”

You explain the term to Asriel.

“Oh! So you can help people find their special someone, right? If so, you gotta tell me—!”

You know he’s going to ask about his own ‘special someone,’ they all do. You shouldn’t have mentioned it.

“—When will Alphys and Undyne get together!?”

…You stand corrected.

You tell Asriel that you can’t tell when, just who. You also confess that you ship the two of them, hard.

“I know right! We should help them get together!”

You tell Asriel that you don’t have time to meddle right now. He is already doing something with his phone, and doesn’t seem to hear you. You sigh.

After several minutes Alphys calls you to give directions. You listen to her and find yourself in a pitch-black room.

Alphys calls you again, “Don’t worry! I’ll h-hack the lights and _brighten_ the mood. Heh, ahem…” Alphys nervous laughter and questionable delivery aside, she manages to turn on the lights. You look around.

Looks like the set of a cooking show—oh no…

“WELCOME BACK, DARLINGS! IT’S TIME ONCE AGAIN, FOR THE NETHERWORLD’S NUMBER ONE COOKING SHOW! ‘COOKING WITH A KILLER ROBOT!’ TODAY WE WILL BE BAKING A CAKE!”

You decide to try something. You interject and tell Mettaton that you already know how to build bombs.

Mettaton waves you off, “GOOD FOR YOU, BEAUTIFUL! I’M GLAD YOU CAME PRE—WAIT, WHAT!?”

Delayed reaction much?

You tell Mettaton that you don’t need any bombs right now, though… His show is _bombing_ enough on its own!

Mettaton freezes in place, but only for just a moment, before he presents his rebuttal, “MY! MY! DARLING! YOU HAVE SUCH A SHARP TONGUE! YOU KNOW WHAT? LET’S JUST DROP THE PRETENSE, SHALL WE?”

Mettaton pulls out a chainsaw and a can of… something. “USE THAT JETPACK THAT I KNOW ALPHYS GAVE YOU AND REACH THIS CAN IN THE NEXT 90 SECONDS… OR ELSE…! THE CAN SHALL GO, RIIIIIIGHT… HERE!” Mettaton extends his arm and places the can on a free-standing kitchen counter several feet away.

You tell Mettaton that you know there’s a trick here. He shrugs and snaps his fingers. The counter begins rising into the sky!

Mettaton shrugs again, “BETTER HURRY, DARLING!” Mettaton flies into the sky.

You quickly pull out your phone, and activate the jetpack app. The phone transforms into a jetpack.

Sweet…

With your newfound powers of flight, you race upward towards the can.

Mettaton has no intention of making this easy for you. He begins throwing flour, eggs, and milk at you, trying to slow you down. After getting the hang of things, you are able to easily weave past these improvised projectiles.

You reach the can with time to spare.

Mettaton stops assaulting you with food-shaped props, “WELL DONE, DARLING! TOODLES!” He flies off, but he’ll be back.

You manage to land without incident, and your jetpack turns back into a phone. A quick check of the app tells you that you are out of fuel.

Of course you are.

You return the phone to your pocket.

Asriel seems awestruck, “I want a jetpack so bad right now…”

You tell Asriel the fuel economy is garbage. He laughs.

“Anyway, let’s get going.”

The two of you reach another elevator, more options are available now, but only one will take you further ahead.

After a short ride you leave the elevator once more. You look around and see a large building off in the distance.

Asriel sees you looking at it, “That’s the CORE! I don’t know the details, but it generates a LOT of power! It can power almost the entire Netherworld!”

Okay, even you have to admit, that’s impressive. It’s obviously a geothermal plant if it generates power inside a volcanic crater. You start to explain geothermal power to Asriel, but he stops you.

“I know what a geothermal power plant is! What I don’t know is what ‘CORE’ stands for!”

…Oh. You apologize to Asriel.

“It’s okay! But, actually I was wondering about something… You seem to know a lot of things. Does that mean you’re a… what was it? Prodigy? Oh! Maybe you’re a mage? That would explain how you know how to check SOULs and know about magic and stuff!”

…

You tell Asriel that humans forgot how to use magic over 3,000 years ago.

“Huh? What do you mean, ‘forgot?’ How could EVERYONE forget how to use magic!?”

You tell Asriel that humans have forgotten many things. They believe monsters only exist in fairytales, and that magic is just make-believe.

Asriel seems crushed, “They… forgot about us? All of them? How…?”

You tell Asriel that history is written by the victors, humans clearly didn’t respect monsters in the slightest, so they erased them from written history.

Asriel looks like he is about to cry, “But… But…! *sniff*”

You tell Asriel that everything will be fine, but you can’t stop here, you have to keep moving.

Asriel nods and does his best not to cry.

After several minutes of walking in awkward silence, Alphys calls and gives you more directions.

In the distance you can see another film set. You steel your Determination and push forward.

Let’s get this over with…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Time: The Spider
> 
> Does Muffet get her own chapter? Or am I just too lazy to come up with a better name?  
> All these questions and more will be answered… Next time!


	12. The Spider

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hotland STILL sucks! And the children find themselves in a sticky situation.

How do you find yourself in these situations?

You are currently running about the place chasing various household-items-turned-bombs; all the while dodging lasers and navigating conveyor belts and high-pressure steam vents.

You have so far managed to disarm a basketball, a movie script, a dog (despite the time limit you were under, you still stopped to pet it,) and a videogame box. All that is left is a bomb-filled present and that extremely agile glass of water.

The glass of water suddenly moves close to you again, and you lunge for it. You miss and the glass flies away again! Stars-damn it! That was the fifth time!

You click your tongue and decide to go after the present instead. You hop onto the steam vent and get blown towards the platform holding the present.

Mettaton, who has been flying around offering unhelpful quips, decides to quip you once more, “ARE YOU READY FOR YOUR… _PRESENT_ -ATION?” Mettaton turns toward a flying miniature of himself holding a camera and mutters, “WE’LL CUT THAT ONE IN POST.”

…Why? That one was ACTUALLY funny.

Alphys instructs you on how to disarm the bomb. You follow her directions, and the bomb is disarmed!

You hop onto the nearby steam vent to get off the platform. The glass of water flies up to you while you’re still mid-air. You try, and fail, to grab it once more.

This. Stars-damned. Glass. Of—!

…Water. You were going to think water. Yeah.

Alphys suddenly speaks up, “I’ve got it! I’ll l-lockdown the glass with some EM fields. Head center-stage!”

You comply, and head to the center of the stage. The glass suddenly flies toward you, only to suddenly stop right in front of you!

“Now’s your chance!”

You grab the glass, VICTORY!

“Good! Now dump the water!”

…What!? Isn’t this thing filled with nitroglycerin!?

Alphys reassures you, “D-don’t worry! It’s not r-real n-nitroglycerin! Hurry!”

Welp, here goes nothing. You turn the glass upside-down.

…

The bomb is disarmed…?

The ‘water’ didn’t move at all. You notice that the glass is a prop, in every sense of the word, the water isn’t even real!

“WELL DONE, DARLING! YOU MANAGED TO DISARM ALL THE BOMBS! RECALL, THAT IF YOU FAILED…” Mettaton points to the large bomb in the corner, “THAT BIG BOMB WOULD HAVE EXPLODED IN TWO MINUTES! INSTEAD, IT WILL NOW EXPLODE IN TWO SECONDS! GOODBYE, DARLING!”

Two seconds pass.

“HMM…? IT SEEMS THE BOMB ISN’T GOING OFF?”

Alphys’ voice suddenly emerges from the speaker built into the bomb. Why there a speaker built into a bomb, you will never know. “Th-that’s because, I, um… I f-fixed… uh…”

“OH NO. YOU DEACTIVATED THE BOMB WITH YOUR HACKING SKILLS.”

“Yeah! That’s what I did!”

“CURSES!” Mettaton turns back towards you, “DON’T THINK YOU’VE WON DARLING! WITHOUT THE BRILLIANT DR. ALPHYS AT YOUR SIDE, YOU WOULD NOT HAVE MADE IT THIS FAR! UNTIL NEXT TIME, DEAR VIEWERS! TOODLES!”

Mettaton flies away.

…

Maybe you shouldn’t have used that ‘bomb’ put-down earlier… You decide to be more mindful of what you say around Mettaton from now on.

You press the headset app button on your phone and the wireless headset retracts and slides back into the side of the phone.

…You are starting to believe that Alphys’ engineering skills are a bit… impossible.

Speaking of the lizard, Alphys calls you, “W-wow… W-we really showed him, huh? H-hey, I know I was kind of weird at first… But I really think I'm getting more… Uh, more… M-more confident about helping you! S-so don't worry about that b-big d-dumb robot! A-and if it really c-came down to it, we could just t-turn…”

…Turn what?

“Um, nevermind. Later!”

Alphys hangs-up. You let out a frustrated sigh.

You think that you’ve figured it out.

“Um, now that that’s over…”

You look up and stare at Asriel, who is currently tied-up and hanging from the ceiling.

“Do you think you could get me down from here?”

You can’t help but snicker at Asriel’s predicament. Nonetheless, you hop onto a steam vent and propel yourself toward him. You slash the rope suspending him, and he falls into the safety-net below. You manage to stick the landing too, but only just.

After cutting Asriel free, you set out for the next elevator. Thankfully, you reach it without further incident.

While riding the elevator, Asriel speaks, “Being tied-up sucks! That better not happen again! I mean it!”

…You’re not sure if he is speaking to you or not. You ARE the only one here, but still…

The elevator stops and the two of you step out onto the top ‘floor’ of Hotland. You didn’t notice before, but the temperature is getting lower the farther you go. Either that, or you’re starting to suffer heatstroke.

You continue on and find yourself at a bake sale. 

The thought of reoccurring bake sales fills you with Determination!

You pass by a nervous looking monster, and examine the baked goods on sale.

Two things throw you for a loop.

#1: the prices here are ludicrous! 9,999G for ONE spider donut!? That has to be a mistake!

#2: the monster manning the bake sale… Is some kind of spider monster.

You don’t mind spiders, but the thought of GIANT spiders, makes you feel… very unwell.

You quickly say hello and goodbye to the monster and leave.

Leave faster!

Once you are out of earshot, Asriel whispers to you, “I really, really don’t like the looks she’s giving you…”

You quietly ask ‘who is she?’

“Her name is Muffet, and rumor has it she’s a bit… well…”

Creepy?

“Y-yeah, that. I don’t think she’s a bad person, but I wouldn’t want to be left alone with her.”

You nod once.

The two of you reach a room filled with cobwebs. Someone should really clean around here.

You keep walking. The webs on the floor make it a little awkward to walk.

You hear a voice, but you can’t tell where it’s coming from, “Did you hear what they said?”

You keep walking. The voice speaks again, “They said a human wearing a striped-shirt would come through here.”

You keep walking. The voice continues, “I heard that they hate spiders.”

You keep walking. “I heard that they love to stomp on them.”

You keep walking. The webs are making it harder to move. “I heard that they like to tear their legs off.”

You keep walking. You can barely move forward now. “I heard…”

Muffet appears standing on the edge of the web you’re stuck on. “…That they’re awfully stingy with their money.”

You turn to Asriel; unfortunately, it seems he is stuck in the web too.

“Let us go!” he cries.

Muffet titters lightly, “Sorry, deary, but someone is paying good money to put your friend here out of action.”

Looks like you’ll need to fight your way out!

You decide to check Muffet.

* Muffet – 38.8 ATK 18.8 DEF

* If she invites you to her parlor, excuse yourself.

Muffet titters again, “Don’t looks so blue, deary.” She begins pouring purple tea onto the web; it travels along the entire web, saturating it with purple magic! “Purple is a much better look for you!”

You’re not sure what effect this magic will have on the web, or on you. Either way, you need to free yourself, quickly!

You’re legs are stuck but your still free from the waist up, so you grab the Angel Blade from its pocket. If you tried to free yourself like this with a sword, you would mostly likely cut yourself in the process. Thankfully the Angel Blade has several different ‘modes.’ For the most part these just change the length of the blade, but that’s exactly what you need.

You flick your wrist and the blade slides out until it’s about five inches long. A perfectly sized knife!

You slash the webs trapping your feet and legs, just in time to avoid some spiders charging across the web!

You look around and see that the edge of the web is TEEMING with spiders! You aren’t getting out that way!

You rush over the Asriel and cut him free as well. You decide to keep you weapon out, for now.

Suddenly, the spiders start throwing donuts at you! You manage to dodge them, but this web is making it tricky. You try to jump, but the purple magic pulls you back down!

You can’t run, you can’t jump, this is turning into such a pain!

Muffet continues to monologue you, “The person who warned us about you…”

You dodge more flying donuts and charging spiders. “Offered us a LOT of money to keep you _tied-up_.”

The spiders start throwing croissants at you! “They had such a sweet smile… It’s strange though, I could have sworn that I saw them in the shadows… Changing shape?”

Spider, donuts, and croissants! Oh my! “With all that money, the spider-clans can finally be re-united.”

You dodge more spiders and flying baked goods, the humor of the situation is starting to grow _stale_ , heh. “Even if they leave the ruins, Snowdin’s fatal cold is completely impassable, and the rest of the Netherworld isn’t much better…”

You keep dodging; you try to look for an opening. “But with the money from this job, we could afford a heated limo. Ah, but where are my manners? I forgot to introduce you to my pet! Ahuhuhu~”

You do NOT like the sound of that!

Suddenly, a hideous spider-cupcake-looking-thing bursts through the ground!

The cupcake-spider starts eating the web beneath you; thankfully, the spiders scatter and start rebuilding the web as it’s destroyed.

This thing is fast! Faster than its size would indicate! Even running as fast as you can, that thing is catching-up quickly! You sign the word ‘fire’ to Asriel and he tosses a fireball your way. You do a half-spin and knock the fireball towards the cupcake-spider!

Your shot goes wide! Damn it!

Even though you miss, the cupcake-spider roars as if struck. Muffet calls out to you, “You really are a bit of brat, aren’t you deary? You cut up my lovely web, scare my poor pet with fire, and didn’t even buy from our wonderful bake sale!”

Wait, it’s scared of fire? It must not be an intelligent monster then! All non-intelligent creatures are scared of fire.

You wonder if the smaller spiders are just animals too…

You come up with a plan, but first, you are really beat up right now. Between the continual stiffness in your legs, AND the sticky magic web, you were barely able to dodge anything!

* “Angel” – HP 3/20

You’re only healing item is a spider donut, so it will have to do!

You eat the spider donut, it doesn’t heal you to maximum, but it helps!

Muffet seems upset for some reason, “My, my, my, looks like you’re a thief as well! We know how to deal with thieves, don’t we pet?”

A spider walks up to Muffet waving a letter of some sort, “Huh? A telegram from the spiders in the ruins?” Muffet takes the telegram with one of her free arms. “What? They’re saying that they saw you, and they say that you supported our cause.”

What? Oh yeah, you remember now, you bought that donut from a strange spider bake sale in the ruins. You completely forgot about that.

“Why, this is all just a big misunderstanding! That person who wanted us to stop a human… Must have meant a DIFFERENT human in a striped-shirt! Sorry for all the trouble, ahuhuhu~” 

You are about to point out the fallacy in that line of thinking, but Muffet gives you a knowing look. She knows that isn’t what this other person meant, but she’s willing to let you go because the spiders asked her too. You wisely decide to keep quite.

The magic fades from the web and the cupcake-spider returns from whence it came.

“I’ll make it up to you~ You can come back anytime, and I’ll wrap you up and let you play with my pet again, free-of-charge! Ahuhuhu~”

You tell Muffet that’s-fine-but-you’ll-be-going-now-bye!

You put away your knife, grab Asriel and leave as quickly as your tired legs will carry you.

Once outside, you collapse onto the floor. You are beat!

Asriel seems tired too, because he collapses to his hands and knees, “D-don’t worry. The MTT resort is not too far; it’s got AC and quiet rooms. We, we can rest there…”

That sounds so good right now.

You spend several minutes catching your breath.

One you have mostly recovered, you stand up. You offer your hand to Asriel, he grabs it and you help pull him to his feet. You have to keep moving.

A few minutes later, you see a poster on the wall; it looks like a promotion for a musical stage-play about two star-crossed lovers, torn apart by fate.

Sounds like one big cliché.

You keep going, and find yourself on yet another stage. You and Asriel both sigh.

You hear Mettaton before you see him, “COULD IT BE? MY ONE TRUE—WAIT…” Mettaton steps out, or more accurately, rolls out from behind a pillar. “DARLING, YOU LOOK LIKE YOUR HEART’S JUST NOT IN IT TODAY. THERE’S NO POINT IN PREFORMING IF YOU CAN’T GIVE IT YOUR ALL!”

You tell Mettaton that, while you like musicals, you have no desire to be in one.

Mettaton waves his hands at you in a placating manner, “OH, DARLING! DON’T WORRY, I TOTALLY GET IT! SOMETIMES YOU JUST GOTTA SING! AND SOMETIMES YOU JUST CAN’T! OH WELL!”

Mettaton pulls out a remote and presses a button, “TO THE DUNGEON WITH YOU!”

A trapdoor opens under your feet and you fall. Asriel calls out your name, but Mettaton extends an arm to keep him from following you down.

You land safely, but you don’t see any obvious way out. What you do see however, is a colored-tile puzzle.

…Oh no, not THAT thing again! You barely remember the rules!

Mettaton flies down the hole and begins hovering overhead, out of reach. “I SEE YOU REMEMBER THIS LITTLE NUMBER. GOOD! SAVES ME THE TROUBLE OF EXPLAINING! IF YOU FAIL TO REACH THE END OF THIS PUZZLE…” A huge wall of fire appears behind you! “THEN THIS WALL OF FIRE WILL INCINERATE YOU! OH, DARLING! IT’S SO SAD, I CAN’T STOP LAUGHING!”

The robot isn’t laughing, however. More proof that this is just an act.

Mettaton pulls out the remote from earlier, “WHEN I PRESS THIS BUTTON, THE TIMER WILL START! READY? THAN LET’S—HEY!”

A fireball knocks the remote out of Mettaton’s hand. Looks like Asriel is still sore about being tied-up earlier!

Mettaton extends one arm to grab the remote, and extends the other arm to deflect additional fireballs.

“WHOOPS! SILLY ME! I FORGOT TO CLOSE THE TRAPDOOR! THAT’S IT! NO MORE HELP FROM THE PEANUT GALLERY, THANK YOU!” Mettaton closes the trapdoor and returns his attention to you. “NOW, WHERE WERE WE… SERIOUSLY?”

By the time Mettaton sees you, you are already a third of the way through the puzzle!

“YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAY, IMPATIENCE IS A VIRTUE!” No one says that. Mettaton presses the button and the timer starts.

You continue unperturbed, grateful for the few seconds Asriel bought you earlier. Mettaton decides to sing while you rush to escape the color-coded puzzle, but you don’t pay attention to the words.

You reach the end with just a second left on the timer!

“WELL DONE, I’M SURPRISED, DARLING!” Mettaton fiddles with the remote and the fires disappear.

Suddenly, your phone rings. You answer and Alphys voice comes blaring from the speaker, “Don’t worry, I’ve hacked into the firewall, and—!

Mettaton interprets his creator, “DON’T BOTHER, ALPHYS, DARLING. THE HUMAN CLEARED THE PUZZLE.”

Alphys is silent for a moment, “W-what? They managed to clear THAT!? HOW?”

“THEY HAD A LITTLE HELP FROM YOU-KNOW-WHO!”

Alphys sounds dejected, “…Oh. G-guess you didn’t need me after all? Heh, uh…”

Mettaton lands on the platform with you, “NOW, NOW DARLING! IT’S NOT OVER YET! YOU REMEMBER THE RULES? WHEN YOU STEP ON A GREEN TILE YOU HAVE TO FIGHT A MONSTER!”

Did you step on a green tile without realizing? You look back at the puzzle… The last tile is green. There was no way to avoid that one! Stupid, cheating robot!

“AND UNFORTUNATELY FOR YOU, THE MONSTER YOU MUST FACE… IS ME!”

You sigh. You really are sick of this robot.

Alphys is still on the line, “D-don’t worry! There’s one last gadget I installed on your phone! Use the SOUL-wave emitter app!”

You really don’t want to… But you start the app anyways.

You phone transforms into a raygun-looking… thing!

You take aim and fire at Mettaton. The shot bounces off him!

Despite this, Mettaton starts ham-acting, “OH NO! I HAVE BEEN DEAFEATED! WOE IS ME! EXCRETA, EXCRETA…” And with that, Mettaton rolls away.

Looks like you were right, this was all an act! But why?

“Good job! I’m glad—!” You hang-up on Alphys.

You climb the nearby ladder and find yourself next to an elevator.

Asriel comes running up to you, “Are you okay? Please tell me you’re okay!”

You tell Asriel you might be dying. He doesn’t laugh.

“I was so worried, I tried to help, but…”

You tell Asriel that he bought you just enough time to escape. He seems relieved.

“Really? That’s good, um, MTT resort is that way.”

You begin walking in the direction Asriel is pointing.

While walking, you pass by an ice cream cart. Sadly, it looks like the two guards from earlier bought the last of the ice cream. Asriel tells you it is called ‘Nice-Cream.’ That’s… actually a pretty good name for a brand of ice cream.

After leaving the Nice-Cream cart, Asriel stops walking, “Um, I gotta ask, I know you didn’t answer me before, but…”

You stop and turn to face Asriel. He visibly swallows before continuing, “You’re really good, at a lot of things! You seem to know quite a bit about magic, and you keep coming up with clever solutions to problems! And you… have a legendary magic weapon…”

…

“Angel… who are you, really?”

…

“If you don’t want to tell me, that’s fine… but, I get the feeling… something is bothering you… and I want you to know, that you can tell me anything! If you want me to keep it a secret, that’s fine. I just don’t want you… to feel like you need to keep secrets from me…”

Oh, look! You can see the MTT Resort! And look, Sans is there! Let’s go say ‘hello!’

You quickly approach Sans.

Asriel mumbles something under his breath as he struggles to catch up to you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Time: The Resort
> 
> Hm, well that was weird. I’m sure nothing bad could possibly come from this!  
> Also, look forward to more Sans! Yay!


	13. The Resort

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans tells a story. The fallen human finally answers Asriel's questions.

Sans waves as you approach, “’sup, kiddo. did ya miss me?”

You shake your head. Sans chuckles.

Sans turns to Asriel, “’sup mini-‘gore, how’s it _hanging_? heard a certain mechanical menace left you _tied-up_.”

Asriel starts to say something, but stops and narrows his eyes, “Wait, Sans, have you been following us?”

Sans winks his left eye, “yup, i’ve been following you guys for a while now. only ‘cuz paps is a huge mettaton fan. he hasn’t left the couch since the quiz show.”

Wait, Mettaton was ACTUALLY filming that? As in, you were ACTUALLY on TV?

“yup, we saw, and heard, basically everything. don’t worry though, everyone is saying nice things about your… performances. rave reviews all ‘round.”

Having the entire Netherworld know you are here, was the LAST thing you wanted!

You tell Sans you don’t care about the reviews, you just want to know how many people know that a human is in the Netherworld.

“oh, that’s easy. everyone. while it’s true that most monsters have never even SEEN a human. mtt made it VERY clear his new co-star was human. really boosted his ratings.”

That flying trashcan!

You tell Sans that it good to know monsters enjoy watching you getting borderline-tortured. Your words are dripping the venom.

Sans holds out his hands, “easy there, kiddo. it’s not like that. what people really like is your, let’s just call it method-acting. seems everyone just loves the back-and-forth between you and mtt.”

You don’t believe him. You stare at his SOUL.

Sans isn’t lying.

“don’t believe me? that’s fair, but you should know… the truth is, that down here… witty improv is comedy gold. yeah, you and mtt having a go at each other, it’s great, even had me laughing.”

Sans isn’t lying.

…That’s, a lot to take in. You’re still not happy that Mettaton is doing this, but…

…

You still have a job to do, you can’t afford anymore distractions.

You are about to thank Sans for telling you this, but he interrupts you, “listen, kid. there’s something i gotta get something off my chest, can we talk for a bit?”

You are about to say ‘no,’ when Asriel interrupts you, “Sure! I think I can get me and Angel a room at least for an hour or two, we’re kinda worn out from… well, you know…”

You are about to say something, when Sans interrupts you, AGAIN! “sure thing, your fluffiness, i promise i won’t keep your friend too long.”

Asriel says ‘thanks’ and head inside. Sans turns back to you, “ready to go?”

Oh, so you get to speak now? How thoughtful.

“heh, save it for the big performance, kid. don’t worry, i know a shortcut.”

You follow Sans, and somehow end up in a restaurant. The sign on one of the walls reads, ‘MTT Resort.’ You must be inside the resort itself. You and Sans are sitting at a table, you notice there is no food, but that’s fine; you weren’t hungry anyways.

“kid, I’m gonna be real honest with ya. when I saw you strollin’ out of the ruins, all alone… I was terrified.”

…

“i saw a human, who looked like they were on a mission and not a pleasant one either. that’s why i stopped ya after leaving snowdin… i wanted to make sure you weren’t… well, i wanted to see if i could trust ya.”

You ask Sans if he trusts you.

“yup, i’m pretty sure i got you figured out. and for once, it’s not your expression that gave you away. it’s the way you carry yourself, it’s like… you just don’t care, about anything…”

…

“hey, let me tell you a story. see the castle at new home has this huge garden, tended to by the king of monsters himself. at the far end of the garden, there’s this huge door, don’t know what’s inside, but I’ve heard that there’s a shrine in there. a shrine to some kids that fell down…”

…

“so, i go there, i see the door, and i think to myself, ‘that looks like a great place to try out some knock-knock jokes.’ i sit down, ‘cause i’m too lazy to stand, and knock on the door… i say ‘knock-knock…’”

* * *

“Who is there?”

_you can imagine my surprise, when some lady actually answers. not wanting to keep my surprise audience waiting, i say:_

“dishes”

“Dishes who?”

“dishes a really bad joke.”

_then she starts howling, like it’s the best joke she’s heard in years… so i keep ‘em coming. eventually, she knocks on the door:_

“Knock-knock.”

“who’s there?

“Old lady.”

“old lady who?”

“Oh! I did not know you could yodel!”

_heh, so we spend some time, just trading bad knock-knock jokes through a door. eventually i have to go, paps gets cranky if i don’t read him a bedtime story. and so… i went back the next day, and the next… heh, it’s a thing now._

_but one day, i notice my pun pal isn’t laughing as much, so i ask her what’s wrong…_

“…May, may I ask a favor of you, friend? Can you promise me, that if a human should fall into the Netherworld… Please, watch over them and protect them, will you not?”

_now, i’m not too big on making promises… and this lady, i don’t even know her name… but a person who sincerely likes bad jokes… has an integrity you can’t say ‘no’ too._

_so i promised her, i’d look after any humans who fell… since then, you’re the only one who fell…_

* * *

Sans looks away from you, “you get what i’m saying, right? that if i didn’t make that promise...”

Sans turns his head back to you, his eyesockets closed, “…buddy.”

Sans opens his eyesockets. For once, there are no lights inside them. “ **You’d be dead where you stand.** ”

Sans’ words hurt, not because you are surprised, you knew he hated you, you knew from the start. No, his words hurt… because killing you would have been the right call…

The light returns to Sans’ eyesockets, “heh, cheer up, pal. i was just joking with ya.”

You stare at Sans.

Sans is lying.

Sans sighs, “no dice, huh? welp, if it’s any consolation… present-sans would be kicking past-sans for thinking like that. i can tell, you’re a good kid… even if you don’t think so…”

…

This was a waste of time…

“that expression… heh, don’t worry, i got something worth your while… mtt plans to ambush you the moment you leave the resort. he knows you’re heading to the capital, so he’ll wait at northern exit. sadly, that’s the only way to the CORE, and the elevator leading from here to new home is bust too. so your only option is to get past a ratings-hungry calculator… and make your way through the CORE… that’ll take you to the edge of new home. i’m sure the prince knows the way from there…”

That was very useful, you thank Sans for the info.

“no prob, bob. oh, just one more thing, don’t think i didn’t notice your lack of reaction to that ‘prince’ bit…”

…Damn, he got you.

“don’t worry, i’m not here to judge ya or anything… but you should know that the prince is already a bit of, i guess you could say… a heartthrob? i think that’s the word… whether or not you make use of that information is your call…”

Sans stands up and pretends to stretch his back, “welp, that’s all from me, kiddo. me and paps’ll be watching ya on tv, have fun out there.”

Sans walks away, this time he actually leaves through an entrance, rather than his usual ‘shortcut’ nonsense.

You’re not sure what Sans was hinting at… you suppose Asriel is kind of cute, but you think all fuzzy pet-able things are cute, so…

Maybe he was just trying to mess with you…

Either way, you leave the restaurant and find yourself in the MTT resort lobby.

Asriel is there to greet you, “I got hungry while I was waiting, so I got us some Glamburgers, their not bad, just okay.”

You glance across the lobby and see a fast-food place on the far side. Why is there an MTT-brand fast-food place AND an MTT-brand dine-in restaurant right across from each other?

You decide it’s best not to question the thought process of a ‘ratings-hungry calculator.’

Some of the monsters in the lobby start to whisper to each other. You can only make out a few words: human, the prince, famous, and some kind of question about items.

Asriel seems to notice the attention the two of you are getting, “Come on, I talked the staff into giving us a room for an hour or so. This way.”

You follow Asriel, and wind up in a room with the largest bed you have ever seen. Seriously, this thing is the size of a large pool!

Asriel sits down on the edge of the bed, you decide to join him.

“Sorry, about that, looks like people are starting to recognize us. Being famous has its drawbacks, huh? Oh! Here.” Asriel pulls out two Glamburger boxes and hands you one; you open the box and look it over.

* Glamburger – Heals 27 HP

* Made of edible glitter, sequins and glue.

…You close the Glamburger box and tell Asriel you’re— Oh-stars-why-is-he-eating-it!?

“…What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

…

You say nothing, and simply use your phone’s dimensional storage app to store the Glamburger for later.

Or never, that works too.

Asriel finishes his Glamburger and tosses the empty box at the trashcan, he misses.

“I’ll get that later. Now!”

Asriel turns and looks you square in the eye, well, your closed eyes, but still…

“Now that we’re alone…”

Wait, is he…? No, there’s no way he’s that forward.

He leans forward.

“Tell me the truth…”

He leans closer…

If he tries anything, you’ll—!

“You’re a mage aren’t you?”

…

…

…Oh.

You start laughing; you can’t believe you misread the situation THAT badly! It takes you several minutes but you finally manage to calm down.

Asriel gives you a confused look, “What’s so funny?”

This only causes you to laugh more, he didn’t even know what he was doing! That’s hilarious! You understand what Sans meant now!

You manage to calm down again. You tell Asriel you’re sorry, but he should be careful how closely he leans into people. He tilts his head and gives you another confused look, but says nothing.

After several seconds of silence, Asriel asks again, “So, does that mean you are a mage, or…?”

…

He’s really not going to let this go, is he?

You don’t want to answer.

…And yet, a part of you wants to tell him.

…

You ask Asriel how much he knows about human mages…

“Not much, I know there’s, um, three ‘types’ of mages. I don’t remember what the first type is called, but the second type is a ‘wizard,’ and the third type is a ‘sorcerer,’ but that’s it.”

You tell Asriel that each ‘type’ gets progressively stronger, wizards are stronger than the previous type, and sorcerers are the strongest ‘type’ of all. You also tell Asriel they are called ‘classes,’ not ‘types.’

“Okay, but how strong are they? I mean, how do you know ALL sorcerers are stronger than ALL wizards? Even if you just went by STATs, it would be hard to speak in such a broad sense…”

Humans can’t use magic the same way monsters do; humans have to do more than just visualize what they want to do. Plus, not all humans can even use magic; some just don’t have the potential. But, what sets sorcerers so far apart from their peers is dedication.

“Dedication? What do you mean?”

You ask Asriel if he knows about ‘the ritual.’

“Um… I… think I heard something about how some humans would use weird rituals to boost their magic, but… that’s just a fairytale, right?

No, it’s real. A certain magic ritual can transform a simple mage into a sorcerer. The ritual allows humans to use magic, more-or-less as monsters do. It also removes the natural limiters that humans have on their SOULs, so it doesn’t just make them better at magic; it makes them physically stronger, faster, tougher…

It also allows them to survive injuries that SHOULD be fatal…

…You keep that last part to yourself.

“I get it, so a human sorcerer doesn’t have these, limiters on their SOULs. Does that mean the ritual helps them remove these limiters?”

Yes.

“So why doesn’t everyone do this ritual thing? Does it hurt?”

Yes, in fact, the pain is indescribable.

“Oh…”

And even if that wasn’t the case, the ritual can fail if the mage isn’t strong enough to endure. Failure usually results in death, if you’re lucky.

“Lucky!? How can DEATH be lucky!?”

…Under certain circumstances, failure can result in completely losing your magical power, to someone who dedicated their life to learning magic, that is a fate worse than death. But even more terrifying, is the threat of becoming SOUL-less.

“SOUL…-less? But, isn’t that just, you know…”

No, it’s worse. A SOUL-less creature cannot feel any emotions at all, they can remember what emotions felt like, but they can’t feel them anymore.

“That… that sounds… horrible! I can’t even imagine not being able to feel emotions…”

…

“But, wait… if that’s the risk… why would anyone do it? You’d have to be crazy to try something like that!”

…

“…Angel, why are you making that creepy face?”

You promptly stop smiling.

“…Angel… I’m sorry… you’re a sorcerer, aren’t you…? I, I shouldn’t have…! I didn’t mean—!”

You tell Asriel it’s all right. You tell him that he is completely right; no sane person would ever risk their SOUL for the sake of power. You tell Asriel that you were never a big fan of ‘sanity.’

“…I’m sorry…” Asriel fidgets for a moment before continuing, “Was… Is the power you gained… worth it?”

You tell Asriel that the hero ‘Delta’ once reduced an entire human army to dust with but a single spell.

“…But humans don’t turn to dust when they die, do they?”

Normally, no. But ‘Delta’ supposedly reduced their bodies to atoms. Granting the illusion that they were turned to dust. The amount of power needed to do that… well, it’s more than most people can even dream of.

“…Are you that powerful, too?”

You laugh. You WISH you were that strong! You could easily take out a few gun-toting humans, no problem, but an entire army? You would be lucky to last 30 seconds.

Asriel doesn’t say anything.

You ask Asriel if he’s afraid of you.

“No! I could never be afraid of you Angel! I promise!”

…Then why does he call your smile ‘creepy?’

Asriel shakes his head, “It’s not your smile! You have a wonderful smile! When you’re happy… But you have a different smile sometimes; it’s like, your smiling because you’re angry about something… if that makes sense?”

It does.

“…Plus, it doesn’t help that you never open your eyes…”

So he picked up on that, huh?

“It’s kinda hard not too… Um… Can, can I see them? Your eyes?”

…

“It’s okay if you don’t wanna, I understand. But, if you’re trying to hide the fact that you have a red-SOUL, it’s not working…”

…What?

“Yeah, monsters can sense stuff like that without even trying…”

…

…

Then, why didn’t he say anything!?

“I wasn’t sure that was what you were trying to do… plus, it’s not like monsters know about red-SOULs, there’s not much need to study human SOULs when there are no humans around, right?”

…So how does HE know?

“I sometimes sneak into mom’s library and read some of the advanced magic books. One of them talked about how red-SOULs are filled with something called ‘Determination,’ and can be the most unpredictable kind of SOUL.”

…Also the most dangerous.

“I’m pretty sure the book just said unpredictable… but I guess unpredictability can be dangerous, so… Wait, did you think monsters would judge you based on your SOUL?”

…Yes.

Asriel laughs, “S-sorry, it’s just, hahahah, monsters don’t really, work like that!”

…

…

Stars-damnit! All this time, you were worried for nothing!

“So, is that why you keep your eyes closed?”

You tell Asriel that all red-SOUL humans have red eyes.

“Really?”

You nod. Wait, does that mean he didn’t know? How did he figure out the connection if he didn’t know?

“Well, they say that the eyes are the ‘windows to the SOUL,’ so… I thought maybe you were taking that literally?”

That… actually makes sense…

“Um, I know I already asked, but… Can I see?”

…Why not?

You open your eyes.

You stare into Asriel’s blue eyes, he seems spellbound.

…

Half-a-minute later, Asriel is still staring…

You cough into the top of your fist. Asriel snaps out of his reverie.

“Um! I! I think your eyes look really cool! You shouldn’t be afraid to open them!”

Asriel is blushing so hard you can clearly see it through his fur.

You decide to ignore his odd reaction. You also decide that since there is no reason to keep your eyes closed, you might as well leave them open.

You conjure your blue magic, lift the discarded Glamburger box from the floor, and drop it into the trashcan.

“You know… most monsters probably just assume humans can still use magic… they wouldn’t be surprised if you used it too.”

You tell Asriel that your magic is a secret.

“Why?”

You ask Asriel if he knows the story of how the Grand Barrier was created.

“Yeah! Every monster learns that in 1st grade! After the war, the Seven Sorcerers created the Grand Barrier… to… oh.”

…Yeah, that’s why. If monsters learned that a sorcerer came to the Netherworld, they might think that you were trying to somehow reinforce the barrier from within.

“But, you wouldn’t do that… would you?”

You tell Asriel you would never do that, but some monsters might not believe you.

“Then, then I’ll make them believe you!”

You laugh and tell Asriel that it’s fine. You only have to keep it a secret for a little while longer.

Asriel gives you a weird look, “What do you mean, ‘a little while longer?’”

…

You tell Asriel that once you’re fully healed; you will feel comfortable telling everyone the truth.

“Okay! And I promise to back you up when you do!”

You tell Asriel ‘thank you.’

“You’re welcome! That’s what friends are for!”

…

…Friends?

…You don’t have ‘friends.’

…You keep that thought to yourself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Time: The Finale
> 
> Okay, be honest now: How many of you thought they were going to kiss?  
> Nope! *smugface*  
> And yes, I did research Asriel’s canon eye color; turns out, he doesn’t have one! So I just picked one at random.


	14. The Finale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mettaton EX makes his debut.

After your little Q&A segment, you and Asriel head toward the northern entrance.

Since you informed Asriel about Mettaton’s planned ambush he seems a bit more on-guard than usual. You hope that doesn’t tip-off that mechanical menace.

Still, you can’t help but wonder… Why? Why go through all this? What’s the end goal? If the goal is to kill you, there are better ways to go about it…

Thinking about the reasons why won’t help you, so you decide to focus on the imminent battle.

You and Asriel leave the resort. The two of you find yourselves on a large stage, again. This is, what… the fourth time?

You hear Mettaton before you see him, “HEEEEE~LLOOOO~! BEAUTIES AND GENTLEBEAUTIES! WELCOME! TO THE SEASON FINALE!”

A trapdoor opens in the middle of the stage, a fog starts wafting from it as Mettaton, riding a rising platform, slowly ascends.

After the platform stops, Mettaton continues, “HOWEVER, THERE HAS BEEN A SLIGHT CHANGE IN THE PROGRAM! IT SEEMS, THAT THE BRILLIANT DR. ALPHYS’ LITTLE SCHEME HAS FALLEN FLAT! HER GOAL WAS TO STOP YOU FROM PROCEEDING PAST THIS POINT! BUT! MAKE NO MISTAKE, HUMAN! ALPHYS IS NOT YOUR ENEMY! YOU SEE, ALPHYS BELIEVES, THAT IF YOU CONTINUE DOWN THE PATH… YOU WILL MEET A HORRIBLY GRISLY-END! DESPITE OUR BEST EFFORTS, YOU SHOWED ABSOLUTELY NO INTENTION OF STOPPING!”

Mettaton waves his hands in exasperation, “SO, ALPHYS HAD TO USE HER TRUMP CARD: ‘REPROGRAMMING’ THE ‘MALFUNTIONING’ ROBOT. THAT WOULD BE OUR LAST CHANCE! SHE IS WAITING, RIGHT OUTSIDE THIS ROOM. ONCE OUR ‘FIGHT’ STARTS, SHE WILL RUSH IN, AND PRETEND TO DISABLE AND REPROGRAM ME. THEN, SHE WILL TELL ME TO TAKE YOU TO THE CAPITAL! SHE GETS TO PLAY HERO, AND YOU GET TO BELIEVE THAT SHE’S A GREAT PERSON, BUT SHE’S NOT.”

Mettaton shrugs, “DON’T GET ME WRONG, DARLING. I DID SO ENJOY THIS LITTLE GAME BETWEEN US; IT WAS WAY MORE FUN THAN I WAS EXPECTING! YOU, DARLING, ARE A FABULOUS CO-STAR! BUT ALL THAT MEANS, IS THAT I CAN’T WASTE THE CHANCE OF SUCH A JAW-DROPPING SPECTACLE, ON SUCH A DROLL SCRIPT!”

Mettaton snaps his fingers and the door behind you slams closed!

You hear the sound of someone banging on the door, “H-hey! Wh-what’s going on!?” That’s Alphys voice! “This, this wasn’t the plan! Open this d-door!”

Mettaton resumes his monologue, “THIS IS IT! THE MOMENT YOU’VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR! REAL DRAMA! REAL ACTION! REAL BLOODSHED! …DON’T HOLD BACK ON ME, DARLING! SHOW ME EVERYTHING YOU’VE GOT!”

Oh, he could at least buy you dinner first…

“MY, MY, HOW CONCEITED! ABSOLUTELY… FABULOUS!!!”

Mettaton conjures several miniatures of himself, they fly towards you!

You dodge most of them, but not all of them! Thankfully, Asriel manages to blast a few with his fireballs; he manages to save you from getting hit.

“OH, DON’T WORRY ABOUT THE BILL! I CAN ALWAYS MAKE MORE!”

Mettaton, true to his word, sends several more mini-mettatons at you. This time they seem to be targeting both of you! Asriel has his hands full keeping himself out of trouble; you will have to watch your own back for now!

…You’re surrounded!

“COME NOW, DARLING! CAN’T YOU DO MORE THAN JUST RUN AWAY? SHOW US SOME OF THAT ‘VICIOUS HUMAN NATURE’ UNDYNE KEEPS YAPPING ABOUT!”

Looks like you have no choice! You draw the Angel Blade and perform a spin slash! You manage to destroy all the mini-mettas! Unfortunately, your legs feel even stiffer after that move; looks like you should wait before trying that again…

“WONDERFUL, DARLING! SHOW ME MORE!”

You would rather not.

Suddenly, your phone rings. You can’t talk right now! Unless…

You rush to Asriel and sign the words firewall. He gives you a confused look. You franticly make a circular motion with your hands, he gets the idea.

Asriel conjures a ring of fire around both of you. Okay, that should buy you a few seconds; you pull out your phone. Good, Alphys is the one calling you. Despite her attempts at subterfuge, you know that she knows Mettaton’s weakness.

“H-hello? Wh-what’s going on in there!?”

You ask Alphys for Mettaton’s weakness.

“What? Um, th-there’s, there’s a s-switch on his back, if y-you could turn him around… you could flip it, and he’ll… um, be v-vulnerable?”

You thank Alphys and hang-up.

“Wait—!” Whatever she had to say can wait, the mini-mettas have figured out there is no roof of fire above you! They descend from on-high!

Asriel dismisses the firewall and the two of you scatter.

“HIDING WON’T HELP EITHER! BUT B-MINUS FOR EFFORT!”

You flash Mettaton your best smirk and flourish your blade. Once Mettaton is facing you, you make a show of running around him, slashing and smashing mini-mettas along the way.

Mettaton to too busy watching for your next ‘trick’ to notice that his back is turned to Asriel.

You yell to Mettaton, that you would _flip_ him off, but then, he’d have to _switch_ on the censors.

Mettaton laughs, “WELL, AREN’T YOU A CRASS ONE? JUST REMEMBER! THIS IS A FAMILY-FRIENDLY SHOW! …WAIT A MOMENT…”

Mettaton realizes the setup too late! Asriel flips Mettaton’s switch.

Mettaton freezes, “DID YOU. JUST FLIP. MY SWITCH?”

Suddenly, Mettaton starts having what looks like to the robot equivalent of a seizure.

After several seconds, Mettaton erupts into a column of smoke!

“MY, MY. IF YOU FLIPPED MY SWITCH… THEN YOU MUST BE DESPERATE FOR THE PREMIÈRE OF MY NEW BODY. LUCKY FOR YOU, I’VE BEEN WANTING TO SHOW THIS BAD BOY OFF FOR A WHILE NOW.”

The smoke slowly starts to clear.

“WELL THEN, WITH MY NEW FORMS’ DÉBUT… I CAN MAKE OUR LAST PERFORMANCE…”

Stage lights shine down upon Mettaton.

“…ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!”

…

He looks like David Bowie.

No, really, he looks like David Bowie got the Shiny Pokémon treatment!

Even you have to admit, he does look fabulous.

You decide to check Mettaton’s new form.

* Mettaton EX – 47 ATK 47 DEF

* His weak point is his heart-shaped core.

Dance music starts to play and Mettaton EX begins dancing around the stage, while his mini-mettas (still shaped like his box-form) resume their assault.

While dodging, you notice the show’s ratings are being broadcast onto a large screen on one side of the stage. The ratings are currently sitting around 3,500 and it looks like there is some kind of milestone at 10,000. If the ratings reach the milestone, there will be some kind of viewer call-in.

You could use that as a distraction!

You boast and tell Mettaton that you won’t get hit at ALL by his next attack. The anticipation should raise the ratings over time, as long as you don’t get hit.

“OH? THEN LET’S SEE HOW YOU MOVE ON THE DANCE FLOOR!”

Disco balls descend from the ceiling. What decade is this again?

The disco balls begin projecting lasers! Some of the lasers are blue, some are orange, and some are white. If you recall correctly, orange attacks won’t hurt you as long as you keep moving. The white ones will hurt no matter what, so you must avoid them.

You start weaving through the lasers, paying close attention to the colors. You manage to not get hit!

“Nice one, Angel!” Asriel’s cheering seems to have boosted the ratings as well, nice.

“WELL. SINCE YOU’VE SHOWN YOUR STUFF, GUESS THAT MEANS IT’S MY TURN!”

Mettaton releases his heart-shaped core; it begins shooting electricity at both you and Asriel.

Dodging would be difficult, but you have an idea to turn the tables! You move to block the electricity bullets with your sword. Normally, this would be a stupid idea, but the Angel Blade’s hilt is insulated against both magic AND electricity! Additionally, it can store certain kinds of magical energy for later use.

The Angel Blade absorbs the attacks before they reach you, it crackles with energy.

You perform a flashy spin that ends with an over-dramatic pose, your sword pointing at Mettaton’s core. You fire the energy at Mettaton; it hits his core dead-center!

Mettaton looks surprised, whether that is due to being hit by his own attack, or due to his arms falling off, you have no idea.

You tell Mettaton to surrender, he’s been dis- _armed_!

“A-ARMS? WHO NEEDS ARMS WHEN YOU HAVE LEGS LIKE THESE? ‘TIS BUT A SCRATCH ANYWAYS!”

A scratch? BOTH of his arms fell off!

“…IT’S JUST A FLESH WOUND, I’VE HAD WORSE!”

Liar!

It seems your back-and-forth banter is making the ratings go crazy, people love it! The ratings are at 5,000, half-way there!

Throughout all of that, Mettaton doesn’t stop dancing. In fact, he seems to be getting closer…

Mettaton suddenly swings his outstretched leg at you! You barely manage to dodge it.

The mini-mettas return, between them and Mettaton’s kicks you get hit a few times.

Getting hit causes the ratings to increase a little, but not enough to make it worthwhile.

Asriel calls from the other side of the stage, “Angel, don’t worry! I’ll heal you!” He makes good on his promise, but the ratings take a hit!

Damn! It seems people don’t like seeing you get saved by Asriel. You thank Asriel but tell him you’ve got it from here.

He nods, before he has to dodge another mini-mettaton.

Okay, so you can’t let Asriel heal you, you can’t use magic to heal yourself… The only item you have is that Glamburger. Better not get hit…

You turn on your heel and mock Mettaton’s dance moves. They are SO last year.

Mettaton laughs once before resuming his assault. You can’t help but get hit again. Thankfully, your heel-turn made the ratings increase more from the hits. It’s still not worth it, but if you were going to get hit anyway…

Mettaton’s minis drop some bombs around the stage; they explode a few seconds later.

The bombs must be shaped-charges, because the magical blasts they release travel in a 4-way cross pattern. One of the blasts grazes your leg, making it harder to dodge the rest.

* “Angel” – HP 6/20

That’s way too low for your liking! You have to heal!

Even though you REALLY don’t want to, you pull the Glamburger out of your phone’s dimensional storage.

You reluctantly eat the Glamburger. Your HP maxes out!

…That, wasn’t so bad actually…

“MY, MY! WHAT FABU-FUL FOOD! I WONDER WHERE YOU GOT IT?”

For some reason the ratings increased? Okay, sure.

You almost wished you had more Glamburgers, almost…

“WE’VE GROWN DISTANT, SINCE OUR LAST HEART-TO-HEART… LET’S HAVE ANOTHER!”

Mettaton releases his heart-core again. This time it launches volleys of electrical energy, most of them travel along the ground so you can’t absorb them, but some of them travel through the air. You absorb those with Angel Blade.

You doubt Mettaton will just stand (or rather, dance) around and let you blast him again, so you decide to distract him.

You call Asriel over, he comes running. You retract the blade of your sword, and grab Asriel as if you mean to dance. Both Asriel and Mettaton seem surprised by this. They seem even more surprised when you spin Asriel and release him suddenly!

Mettaton narrowly avoids getting hit by the spinning goat-prince. He turns back to you just in time to get zapped again!

This time his legs fly off!

You tell Mettaton that he should give up, he doesn’t have a _leg_ to stand on anymore!

Mettaton seems nervous now, but he does his best not to let it show, “L-LEGS OR NO LEGS! THE SHOW MUST GO ON, DARLING!”

The ratings are really high now! Almost 8,000! But how can you boost them higher?

Mini-mettas attack, but without Mettaton’s kicks thrown in, the attack is easy to dodge.

You strike a dramatic pose, gesturing to your legs and arms, then do a half-spin and gesture to Mettaton’s lack-thereof.

Mettaton pretends that he is not upset by your wordless taunts, “DARLING, YOU SHOULD LEAVE SHOWING-OFF TO THE PROFESSIONALS!”

More disco balls, more lasers. This isn’t good; the ratings are actually going DOWN now… You have to think of something!

You’ve already done it all! Posing, heel-turning, boasting, even taunting and witty one-liners! You’re completely tapped for good ideas!

Asriel seems to notice your distress, he comes running up to you, sliding under a white laser in the process. “Don’t worry! You got this, Angel! I believe in you!”

Asriel’s cheering boosts the ratings yet again. They are now at 8,100. Wait, that’s it! Everyone seems to like Asriel, you can use that!

You ask if Mettaton is jelly, he looks confused, “JELLY? WHAT DO YOU HAVE THAT I COULD _POSSIBLY_ BE JELLY OVER?”

You wrap your arm around Asriel’s shoulder and say ‘take a guess.’

Mettaton doesn’t seem to believe you, “DARLING, IT WILL TAKE MORE THAN THAT TO CONVINCE—”

You lean forward and kiss Asriel on tip of his snout. The ratings board partially explodes!

Asriel bleats in a mixture of surprise and embarrassment as he falls backward. Mettaton gasps and turns his head to the camera crew. “TELL ME YOU GOT THAT! FROM ALL ANGLES TOO!” A mini-meta holding a camera gives a thumbs-up, Mettaton practically squeals with joy!

The ratings pass the 10,000 milestone mark! A bell rings throughout the set.

Mettaton gestures for the camera to focus on him, since he can’t move right now. Once he is in-focus he speaks, “HELLO TO ALL MY ADORING FANS! THAT BELL MEANS WE HAVE REACHED THE VIEWER CALL-IN MILESTONE! THAT’S RIGHT! ONE LUCKY VIEWER WILL GET THE CHANCE TO TALK TO ME! RIGHT HERE ON-SET!”

You help Asriel to his feet, and nod at the northern door. It’s time to leave.

“HELLO VIEWER! YOU ARE LIVE!”

A familiar voice comes from the various speakers around the stage, “…hello? Mettaton?” That’s Napstablook’s voice! “I, I just wanted to… call, and tell you… how much I like your show… my life is pretty boring… seeing you on the screen… brought excitement to my life… oh… I didn’t mean to talk so long… I guess I’ll be going now… good-bye, Mettaton…”

“NO! WAIT, BL—”

*Click*

Mettaton seems distraught, “HE— THEY HUNG UP… LET’S TAKE ANOTHER CALLER!!!”

Another voice, this time it’s one you don’t recognize, “Mettaton! Your show made us so happy!”

Another voice joins in, “Mettaton! We hope you can get your arms and legs back!”

Another voice, “Mettaton, please get fixed up! You have to look after yourself!”

More and more voices start calling out, offering words of gratitude and encouragement.

Eventually, the voices stop. Mettaton looks like he could cry. “AH… I SEE… I TRIED TO BECOME FAMOUS FOR SO LONG… I FORGOT WHAT WAS TRULY IMPORTANT TO ME… MAKING PEOPLE LAUGH, MAKING PEOPLE SMILE… BRINGING EXCITEMENT INTO THE LIVES OF AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE… SOMEWHERE ALONG THE WAY, I LOST SIGHT OF THAT DREAM… HUMAN, THANK YOU… WITHOUT YOU, WITHOUT ALL OF MY FANS… I MAY NOT HAVE REALIZED, UNTIL IT WAS TOO LATE…”

Mettaton…

“I SHOULD PROBABLY TELL YOU NOW. I PLANNED TO TAKE YOU TO THE CAPITAL MYSELF. THAT IS WHERE YOU WANTED TO GO, CORRECT? I THINK… I KNOW WHY… BUT! ALPHYS AND I, WE HOPED TO CHANGE YOUR MIND, OR AT LEAST DELAY YOU LONG ENOUGH… TO COME UP WITH A BETTER PLAN… LOOKS LIKE WE FAILED. DON’T HOLD IT AGAINST ALPHYS, THOUGH. THE CORE IS VERY DANGEROUS FOR A HUMAN.”

You tell Mettaton that you can handle yourself. He laughs weakly.

“I’M SURE YOU CAN, DARLING. BUT… JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN… DOESN’T MEAN YOU HAVE TO…”

…

“SADLY, IT LOOKS LIKE WE ARE OUT OF TIME… THIS FORM’S ENERGY CONSUMPTION IS… INEFFICIENT. IN A FEW MOMENTS, I WILL RUN OUT OF BATTERY POWER… DON’T WORRY, I’LL BE ALRIGHT. AND EVERYONE… THANK YOU. YOU’VE BEEN A GREAT AUDIENCE!”

Mettaton loses power and falls silent…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Time: The Letter
> 
> Okay, so there WAS a kiss, just not the way people were expecting.  
> What can I say? I just like embarrassing goat-bro too much!


	15. The Letter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The human accepts a favor from Undyne. Alphys makes a confession.

The door leading to the resort lobby opens and Alphys practically charges into the room. “I-is everyone okay?”

You and Asriel are fine, Mettaton on the other hand…

Alphys sees Mettaton’s limb-less form lying on the ground, she rushes over to him, “No! Mettaton…” She inspects him for several moments before visibly relaxing. “Oh, thank the stars! He just ran out of power…”

Despite this reassurance, Asriel still seems somewhat upset, “We’re sorry, Alphys. We didn’t think…”

Alphys shakes her head, “I-it’s okay… You didn’t do any real damage, his limbs are supposed to fall off!”

…

Both you and Asriel stare at Alphys in total confusion.

Alphys nervously starts to explain, “W-well, um, you see… Mettaton’s EX form is still e-experimental; power consumption is still an issue that I’m w-working on… So, to save p-power in extreme situations, the arms and l-legs can be detached… you know, to conserve power? Heh…”

So, everything is fine.

“Y-yeah! Totally fine! A-and even i-if you destroyed h-him, I could always just… build a new one…”

You look down at Mettaton. You don’t need to check Alphys’ SOUL to know she is lying.

Mettaton has a SOUL, if you destroyed him…

It looks like Asriel noticed that too, judging from the look on his face.

“Um, anyway… Uh, do you think… I mean, I know it’s all my fault you’ve been h-held up so long… But, can you help me, um, carry Mettaton back to my lab, please?”

Asriel answers before you can stop him, “Sure! We can help! Right, Angel?”

You sigh, looks like you have to…

* * *

Thankfully, Mettaton is lighter than you thought and the three of you are able to bring him back to the lab without incident. The elevators having been fixed was a huge help, but judging from what Mettaton told you, the elevators were disabled by Alphys. Furthermore, it looks like Mettaton was the one who sent the guards and Muffet after you.

And you still don’t know why.

Once Alphys hooks Mettaton up to some kind of charging station she decides to explain herself, at least to you. For some reason she doesn’t want to discuss her reasons with Asriel present.

You ask Asriel to keep an eye on Mettaton while you two talk.

“S-so… I guess I have a l-lot of explaining t-to do… um… Wh-where do I even start?”

You tell Alphys you want to know her reason for trying to stop you from reaching New Home.

“Of course, that makes sense, um… I wasn’t trying to _stop_ you, j-just slow you d-down…”

You ask her ‘why?’

At first she doesn’t answer, until, “I, I overheard what you said in Waterfall Cavern, about the Barrier… The way you spoke, it… It reminded me of how I— I mean— It made me think, that you w-were…”

Alphys seems at loss for words, “L-let me try again… Do you know how… What is needed, to break the barrier?”

…

You lie, and tell her that you do not.

Alphys studies your face before breathing a sigh of relief, “Oh, thank-the-stars-I-was-wrong! Oh, you have n-no i-idea how relieved I am to hear that!”

…

You ask if she still intends to delay you.

“Now that I know y-you are going to— Yes! I mean, no! I will NOT try to, get in the way… anymore…”

…Good.

“H-however, you can’t go to New Home just yet, the elevator is b-broken… and, no, that had nothing to d-do with me and MTT!”

Can’t you just go through the CORE? There should be a way—

“NO!”

Alphys seems surprised by her own outburst; not only that, her shout drew Asriel back into the room. “Is everything alright? I heard shouting…”

“…Um, everything is fine… I was just telling the human… I was just telling Angel, that they can’t go through the CORE.”

Asriel asks the obvious question, “Why not?”

“Because! Um, because, the CORE is currently involved… in an experiment! And you can’t go through there! Nope, can’t happen, all the d-doors are locked anyways.”

…Alphys is a REALLY bad liar. You don’t call her out on it, but you can’t help but wonder why she is so opposed to the CORE.

You ask Alphys if she knows when the elevator will be fixed.

“I’m, n-not sure? I already put a rush order on getting it f-fixed, but…”

Your phone starts ringing. It’s Papyrus, you decide to answer.

“’Sup, PUNK!” It’s Undyne? Why does she have Papyrus’ phone? “I borrowed it from the goofball! Don’t worry, I’ll give it back! Listen, I got a favor to ask you… Can you come by Paps’ house? It’s, kinda important…”

Asriel, who was listening-in on you, eagerly nods. You sigh and tell Undyne ‘maybe.’

“Cool! Better get here soon! Okay, punk!?”

*Click!*

You return the phone to your pocket and sigh. You ask Asriel why he wants to do this ‘favor.’

He shrugs, not quite able to hide his mischievous grin, “Well, it looks like we won’t be able to progress for a while, so we may as well help!”

You tell Asriel that Undyne is currently in Snowdin, and you are in Hotland, that’s quite a long ways away.

“I know, but we can just take the ferry!”

…

…The what now?

“You know, the ferry, it can take us to Waterfall, Snowdin, Hotland, it can even take us to the ruins if we want.”

…And why didn’t he mention this before? When you were walking all-over the place, through literally EVERY place he just mentioned? Why didn’t you two just take the ferry in the first stars-damned place!?

“… Oh… Uh… Oops…?”

…

Alphys, perhaps wisely, decides to go check on Mettaton. She quickly flees the room.

You ask Asriel where the ferry is.

“…It’s just outside; a short walk south from here, so— Ow! Ow! Ow!”

You grab Asriel by the ear and start pulling him along behind you, ignoring his protests all the while.

A minute later, you arrive at the ferry. You release Asriel’s ear, he starts rubbing it, a guilty look on his face.

The ferry looks like a simple wooden boat; there is no one aboard, except a strange monster clad in a simple dark-blue robe.

The ferryperson speaks, “Tra la la, I am the river man, or am I the river woman? It doesn’t really matter. I like to ride on my boat, would you like to join me?”

You like this river person! You don’t know why, but you do.

You nod once and climb aboard.

The river person speaks once more, “Where to?”

You tell them ‘Snowdin.’

“Very well. When your friend climbs aboard, we shall be off.”

Asriel climbs on, and the boat… grows legs and starts running down the river?

…You decide not to question it.

After a while, the river person speaks, “Tra la la. The Angel is coming… or perhaps, it never left… Tra la la.”

…

You reach Snowdin a few minutes later.

As you and Asriel disembark, you ask the river person about their ferry schedule.

The river person only chuckles softly, “Oh, I go where and when I am needed. Do not worry, I shall be here when you need me. Tra la la.”

…

Despite their ‘person of mystery act,’ you quite like them. It doesn’t hurt that they saved you a few hours of walking.

You head for the skele-bros house. You find Undyne and Papyrus waiting for you out front.

Undyne greets you, “Sup!” Undyne suddenly lowers her voice; you didn’t know the Amazonian fish-woman could be so quiet. “Listen, I was hoping you could deliver this letter to Alphys.”

You are certain you know what this letter is, but you decide to toy with Undyne anyways.

You ask her why she can’t deliver the letter herself.

“Well, the truth is… Hotland SUCKS! So you will have to deliver it for me!”

…Well, you can’t argue with that, not that you want to… Getting Undyne and Alphys together would be fun. You agree to deliver the letter.

After receiving a warning from Undyne to not open the letter, you and Asriel make your way back to the river person.

You climb aboard and ask them to take you to Hotland.

“Tra la la, Off we go.”

The boat simply sails along the water, no legs this time… you are SURE you didn’t imagine them.

“Tra la la. Beware the man who speaks in hands.”

…?

You arrive in Hotland and thank the river person; they simply nod once in acknowledgment.

You make your way to the lab, hoping Alphys is still there. Once you arrive, you consider your options.

If you just shoved the letter under the door (there is no mail slot) then you could simply leave. Chances are likely that Alphys would be overjoyed by the prospect of going out with Undyne. So much so, that she would do that instead of ‘monitoring’ you. With Alphys and Undyne distracted, you could easily slip through the CORE, and you could reach New Home in an hour, tops.

On the other hand, there’s no guarantee that things will go smoothly if you just leave the letter here, Alphys may not find it, or may not read it before you reach the CORE…

You decide you are done with these delays and decide to risk it anyways.

You slide the letter under the door, knock loudly, and prepare to leave.

Asriel grabs your hand, “Wait, shouldn’t we deliver it to her personally? Rather than—”

You tell Asriel it will be fine, these two are perfect for each other, once either of them confesses their feelings, it’s over; might as well ring the wedding bells now and save time later.

“Um, I wanna see them get together too, but… Don’t you think that’s a little… prematted?”

…Does he mean ‘premature?’

“Yeah! That’s it!”

You are about to respond, when the lab door slides open.

Alphys is blushing slightly, she looks VERY surprised to see you, “D-did you write this?”

…Oh no. You can’t believe it, Undyne must have forgotten to sign the damn letter!

You have changed your mind; these two clearly need all the help they can get!

You decide to play along, for now.

Alphys fidgets, clearly unsure of what to do. Asriel speaks up, “You two should go somewhere nice! What’s your favorite place to go, Alphys?”

Alphys stutters incoherently for a few moments before recomposing herself, “Um, t-the d-dump…? Yeah, l-let’s go t-to the dump!” Alphys suddenly looks confused, she turns to Asriel, “Wait, you… are you, tagging along… ?”

Asriel shakes his head, “Nope! I was just being a good… what’s the word?”

…Wingman?

“Yeah! That! Anyways, you two go have fun at the dump! I, uh, gotta, call someone.”

You nod at Asriel, it seems he is on the same page as you. It’s refreshing to finally have a partner you can count on. Even if he is a bit naïve.

Asriel heads in the lab and closes the door behind him. Alphys returns her attention to you, “Um, sh-shall we?”

You nod once.

* * *

The walk to the dump is short, but the awkward silence is a bit much. You decide to lighten the mood with some puns, Alphys chuckles at most of them, the science puns seem to be her favorite.

Once you reach the dump, the awkward silence resumes.

Unfortunately, things only get more awkward as time goes on.

You really hope Asriel doesn’t mess this up.

You focus, and scan the area for other SOULs. You sense Asriel is several meters away, likely watching to see if Alphys and Undyne kiss.

…You also sense Undyne approaching, but she isn’t moving very fast. It will take her some time to get here.

You tell Alphys it’s obvious that she has feelings for Undyne and not you.

“…Then, why d-did you write that l-letter?”

You tell Alphys that you didn’t write it; it was written by Undyne.

“…”

…

“…r-r-REALLY!?”

…Ouch, your poor ears.

“Oh-my-stars! Undyne-really-likes-me! She really likes me! YES! …No! No! This is b-bad!”

You really hope that she isn’t one of those people who is racked with crippling insecurities.

…She is, isn’t she?

You sigh. Looks like you will have to boost her confidence, and quickly.

You ask Alphys if she wants to date Undyne or not.

“Of, of course I do! Undyne is, she’s… You know, but I’m… I don’t even know what to say to her!”

You have an idea. You tell Alphys that the two of you can role-play. You can play Undyne and she can play herself.

“Role-play? That, that could work… Sure, l-let’s give it a shot? Um, h-hello U-Undyne?”

You put on your best Undyne impression. It’s so good, it startles Alphys! ‘What’s up, Alphys?’

“Um, uh… I…”

This is not going well…

“I, wanted to, tell you that… I think your amazing…!”

Okay, you can work with that, ‘Of course I am! And I think you’re pretty amazing too!’

“Really!? Oh, Undyne! I, I—!”

Alphys launches into a gushy tirade about how much she likes Undyne. She talking so fast you can’t even understand her.

Unfortunately, Undyne choose this EXACT moment to show up. Figures.

Undyne seems, upset… “Hey! Punk! I just asked you deliver that letter! Not to try and steal my girl!”

You politely tell, Undyne that she forgot to sign the letter.

“THAT’S NO EXCUSE!!!”

Alphys speaks up, “WAIT! Undyne! The human… Angel, was helping m-me, work up the guts to, to ask you… um…”

You tell Undyne that Alphys wants to smooch her so hard that she can’t even say it.

Now it’s Undyne’s turn to stammer, “Wh-what? Alphys, does this mean…?”

“YES! I want to go out with you! B-but, I can’t.. I don’t deserve, s-someone as amazing as you… I’ve l-lied to you, I’ve lied to some many people!”

Undyne starts slowly walking towards Alphys, “Alphys.”

Alphys doesn’t seem to notice, “All those times I said I was working late at night, I was really just watching anime in my pajamas and eating nice cream!”

“Alphys…”

“And, I lied and told you anime was real, but it’s not! I would pretend it was real so it would look like I was working!”

“Alphys… Babe, listen…”

Undyne reaches Alphys and hugs the sobbing lizard woman. It’s such a touching scene…

Then Undyne lifts Alphys and slam dunks her in garbage can!

Both you and Alphys are dumb-founded. Undyne speaks, “Alphys! Truth is, I don’t care about any of that crap! I care about you because you’re passionate! You ALWAYS give 110% trying to help people! You’ve done so much for the Netherworld, and you still keep going! You’re bona-fide technological BADASS!”

Alphys sticks her head out of the trashcan, “You… you mean it!?”

“OF COURSE I DO! There’s only one thing I DON’T like about you! It’s that you can’t admit just how AWESOME you are! But don’t worry! I’ll support you 110%, until you complete your self-confidence training!”

“Really? Y-you’ll train me?”

“Me? No…”

Suddenly, a wild Papyrus appears! Where the hell did he come from!?

Undyne pats Papyrus on the shoulder, “Papyrus is gonna be the one to train you!”

Alphys suddenly looks a lot less excited. Papyrus apparently does not notice, “COME, DR. ALPHYS! YOU ARE GOING TO RUN 100 LAPS AROUND THE DUMP… WHILE YELLING ABOUT HOW GREAT YOU ARE! NYEH HEH HEH!”

You don’t think that is how you build confidence…

Either way, Papyrus and a slightly shell-shocked Alphys go running into the preverbal sunset, leaving you and Undyne alone.

Undyne suddenly looks VERY nervous, “Sh-she was joking right? Anime is still real, right!?”

…

This could very well be the most important decision of your life.

…

You tell Undyne that anime isn’t real.

“No! My heart! It feels like it’s breaking into a million pieces…”

…You regret nothing.

“…Anyways, thanks for telling me the truth, hum—Angel. I really appreciate it.”

You nod once. Undyne takes her leave.

Asriel slinks towards you, a satisfied grin plastered on his face. “I’m glad that Undyne and Alphys are together. I wish everyone could find happiness like they did…”

…

…Yeah. If only things worked out this well all the time.

You tell Asriel that the two of you should get going, there is nothing left to do here.

Once you reach the edge of Waterfall Town, Asriel directs you toward the river person’s stop.

You are about to board the boat, when your phone rings. It’s Papyrus, you answer him.

“HUMAN! IT IS I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS! THE GOOD DR. ALPHYS FINISHED HER TRAINING EARLY! VERY EARLY! AND SHE DECIDED TO GO HOME! VERY HOME! HOWEVER, AND I AM SAYING THIS FOR NO REASON IN PARTICULAR! I BELIEVE YOU SHOULD GO CHECK IN WITH HER… AGAIN, I AM SUGGESTING THIS FOR NO REASON AT ALL! GOODBYE, HUMAN!”

…Okay, THAT was weird.

You suddenly have a bad feeling. You usually only get these sorts of feelings when someone wants you dead, and has the power to make it so.

The fact that you don’t sense any killing intent, only makes you more nervous.

Asriel seems to share your sentiments; he boards the boat, “Hotland! Sorry, but we’re in hurry.”

You don’t argue, you simply board the boat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Time: The True Lab
> 
> Yes, Angel and Asriel are both filthy shippers, and I couldn’t be more proud!  
> I wonder what’s up with Alphys?


	16. The True Lab

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Secrets abound. Alphys makes another confession.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING: Subtle allusions to suicidal thoughts.

While riding in the boat, you decide to think about what Papyrus was hinting at. You know he wouldn’t have sent you if it wasn’t important, but he seemed on edge for some reason. According to Sans, Papyrus doesn’t let anything get him down, so why did he sound so nervous?

Looks like you will have to find Alphys if you want answers.

Once you and Asriel disembark at Hotland, the two of you make a beeline for the lab. Once inside, Asriel calls out, “Alphys! Are you in here?”

…No response.

You head further in and find a hastily written note on the floor.

_I’m sorry, everyone. I couldn’t keep living this lie. I want you to know the truth, about me, about what I’ve done. Through this door is where you will find them, all of my mistakes. If you don’t find me there… Then I wasn’t strong enough. I’m sorry, goodbye._

…This is…

You know what kind of note this is…

You have to move quickly! You call Asriel over and enter the nearby door. You find yourself in an elevator, only one button seems functional.

“What’s going on? Why do you look—”

You tell Asriel there is no time! Alphys is in trouble!

Asriel quickly enters the elevator and you press the button. The elevator begins to descend.

…That bad feeling you had earlier suddenly gets a lot worse!

You grab onto the handrails and yell for Asriel to do the same.

Suddenly, the elevator grinds to a halt… Before it suddenly starts free-falling!

You brace for impact.

* * *

You awaken some time later, you head hurts and your vision is weak. That can’t be good…

You have to stay focused! Check the team’s condition, check the immediate area, check supplies.

You find Asriel laying on the ground next to you, you check him.

* Asriel Dreemurr – 40 ATK 20 DEF

* He has lost about 80% of his HP. Nothing seems broken, though.

You check yourself.

* “Angel” – 2/20 HP

* No broken bones, but your head hurts like hell…

Now the area, it looks like your still in the elevator, but the doors have been split open. Looks like the impact was bad, really bad.

It’s very dark, so you can’t see much. You try to cast your Dark Vision spell; it fails and your head feels like it’s splitting apart!

…You forgot that casting vision-enhancing magic while concussed never works.

You would check your supplies, but you don’t have any!

You gently touch Asriel’s shoulder and try to wake him.

“Mmm… Ow… what? Where are we?”

You tell Asriel that the elevator failed, you are now on the bottom level of the lab.

You ask Asriel if he can move, he nods slowly. After you both manage to stand up, you leave the elevator.

You don’t like the look of this place. It looks like it’s been abandoned for quite some time. It doesn’t help that the power seems to be out.

The two of you stumble down the darkened halls, you could swear something is watching you…

You manage to reach some kind of lobby. Asriel slumps down onto an old coach, “Should, should we call for help?”

You tell Asriel to do that while you will look around, you can’t shake this feeling.

While Asriel fusses with his phone, you manage to find a vending machine. Since monster food doesn’t spoil, it should be safe to eat…

“I, I can’t get through! There’s no signal down here!”

That figures. You gesture to the vending machine and ask if Asriel is hungry.

“But, we don’t have any mon—”

You heft a nearby potted plant (it’s fake) and slam it into the vending machine! The glass shatters!

“Angel! What are you…!?”

You tell Asriel that it’s an emergency. Besides, no has been done here in a long time, judging from the state of the place.

“That doesn’t make theft okay!”

You ask Asriel if he wants to die down here. That shuts him up.

You grab two bags of chisps and toss them to Asriel. You take another two bags for yourself.

You hurriedly eat them both. Your HP maxed out!

While Asriel sulkily eats his popato chisps, you look around. You see a big door; the sign next to it says it leads to the generator room. It also mentions five locks, and judging from the five different-colored indentions in the door, you will need to bring five different keys here.

So now it’s a scavenger hunt, great. If this turns into a Saw movie…

You inform Asriel of what you have learned.

“Okay, so what’s the plan? Should we split-up?”

No, no, no, no, no! You NEVER split-up in a place like this! Ever! You two will have to stick together.

Asriel nods but says nothing. It seems he is nervous as well.

You begin your hunt for the keys…

* * *

…

That was actually quite boring. Absolutely nothing happened! You almost wish you were in a Saw movie instead, almost…

You insert and turn all five keys.

The door starts to open, until something starts seeping through the gap in the door!

You take it back! Boring is good! Boring is great! Keep it boring please!

You and Asriel step back as the viscous white and black substance starts to form three large pools in front of the door.

These, things, start to rise up… Faces appear in the mass of goop, shifting and merging and splitting apart! You feel sick.

You try to check these things!

* “Angel” – 20/20 HP

* The fallen human.

…The hell!? It REFLECTED your check!?

A strange, staticky noise seems to come from everywhere at once. It hurts just hearing it!

You sense incoming attacks, but you can’t see them anywhere! You end up taking damage, but you can’t determine what hit you!

Asriel is surprised when you cry out in pain, “Angel! Wha-what happened!?”

It looks like these creatures are only after you, you don’t know why, but at least you can exploit this!

You tell Asriel that this, thing, is attacking you!

Asriel’s fear seems to disappear. He yells at the strange creatures. “Leave them alone!”

The creatures make no indication that they heard Asriel. Can they simply not see, or hear him?

Asriel launches a volley of fireballs at the creatures. You decide to try checking the attacks, or rather, the damage they inflict.

* error

* Absorbed.

* It didn’t work…

* Failure!

* a3qw2er6ty5!

…What!? H-how? You can’t even begin to make sense of these readings!

The creatures continue to pay Asriel no mind; they didn’t even notice they were attacked!

The creatures attack again. This time you decide to follow your instincts and nothing else! You manage to dodge all the attacks, but you are starting to feel very tired.

…This exhaustion is unnatural! Even normal magic couldn’t do something like this!

You try to find a solution, but bad memories keep coming to mind, making it hard to think straight!

“Angel! Wh-what do I do!?”

Good question. The staticky noise returns again, louder than before. Wait, it sounds like some of the noise is coming from your pocket!

You pull out your phone. Suddenly, “ ** _Come join the fun!_** ”

That distorted voice makes your head swim… You really want to say yes…

…It hurts.

…

You agree—

“NO! DON’T!” Asriel’s scream catches you by surprise! “I, I won’t let them hurt you!”

Asriel attacks the creatures again! They don’t even notice.

You are too dazed to ACT…

The creatures attack again. You can’t bring yourself to dodge…

You get hit multiple times.

* “Angel” – 1/20 HP

Looks like it’s over…

Asriel cries out! You can’t understand what he’s saying…

You are too dazed to ACT…

The creatures attack again. You can’t bring yourself to dodge…

Asriel throws himself around you!

Asriel takes the damage instead of you!

…You can’t understand.

“Angel, wake up! Please!”

The creatures seem confused by something. They simply shamble around.

“Please… I don’t want to lose you…”

You are too dazed to ACT…

The creatures attack again. You can’t bring yourself to dodge…

Asriel is still holding you!

Asriel takes the damage instead of you!

Asriel’s HP is critically low!

“…Please… wake up…”

…

…You can’t understand.

Why is he doing this…?

…You can’t understand.

…

The creatures attack again. You can’t bring yourself to dodge…

You try to push Asriel away, but he holds on tight!

…You can’t understand! Why can’t you understand!?

A strange feeling fills you. It’s not Determination, this is something else…

A green barrier appears around you and Asriel! It blocks the attacks!

The barrier shatters! But you don’t need it anymore.

You recover from your daze!

You tell Asriel, that since these things don’t care about him, he can focus on healing you!

Asriel nods. He heals you both and steps back.

The creatures seem to have recovered from whatever was confusing them.

The creatures attack again. You refuse to be hit!

These things seem to have a connection with your phone… You decide to try something crazy!

You pull out your phone again. You open the camera app and look at the creatures through the app.

You check them.

* Memoryhead - ??? ATK ??? DEF

* A creature comprised of bad memories. They seek out the painful memories of others, and prey upon them.

Memoryheads!? But, that means…

You never wanted to see a real-life Memoryhead. But, now you know how to deal with them!

You yell at the top of your lunges that you refuse to join them!

The Memoryheads seem shaken by your conviction. They start to melt away.

…

You won. Barely, but you won.

You collapse to your hands and knees.

Asriel seems worried, “Angel! Are you alright?”

You tell Asriel not to worry about you, he needs to turn on the generator. Memoryheads don’t like brightly lit areas. Neither of you are truly safe until the lights are back on.

“Okay! Sit tight! I’ll get the lights!” Asriel runs through the now-open doorway.

…

Why did Asriel risk his life for you?

…You can’t understand.

Several seconds later, the lights turn on. The sudden brightness catches you by surprise; you have to shield your eyes from the light.

Asriel returns, he isn’t alone. “Hurry, Alphys! They need help!”

“What? …Oh my stars! W-we need to get them to the medical center! This way!”

Asriel and Alphys half-drag, half-carry you to what looks like a hospital bed.

Alphys does her best to heal you, all the while she tries to keep you conscious by asking questions “What h-happened? Why are you, s-so badly h-hurt?”

You tell Alphys about the Memoryheads. You tell her that you came to look for her, and found those things.

Alphys seems really upset, “No! This, this was my fault! …All my fault… I’m sorry…!”

Alphys looks like she—

You refuse to finish that thought! You tell Alphys that it’s not her fault, Memoryheads will attack anyone who has bad memories that they subconsciously want to get rid of. There is nothing she could have done.

Alphys shakes her head, “No, you don’t understand… I, I MADE those things… I’M the reason you were down here! It’s ALL my fault!”

…She made them?

“Yes…”

…You tell Alphys to start from the beginning. She nods and takes a deep breath.

* * *

_A few years ago, I got promoted for my work on Mettaton. I’m sure you figured out how I… cheated… But! I still wanted to help people! Mettaton was happy with his new body, so I thought, ‘It’s okay to lie, if it helps people!’_

_I know now. That’s not how a scientist is supposed to think, that’s not how anyone is supposed to think…_

_But, I still wanted to save people! And, well… back then, people were ‘falling down’ a lot more than in previous years. Monsters were losing hope. Without hope, a monster simply can’t survive, they fall down… It’s, um, kind of like, a human ‘coma,’ expect, monsters… can never wake up…_

_I wanted to figure out why this was happening! I wanted to find a way to stop it! I discovered something, in my mentor’s old notes. Humans have a strange thing called ‘Determination’ within their SOULs. I figured out that this, this is what allowed humans to wake up, to recover from things that—_

_Anyways, I asked the king to bring in a bunch of monsters who had fallen down, as many as he could bring me! I told him I might have a cure, that it was long-shot, but if I was right…!_

_I used a machine to extract Determination, or DT for short, from the human SOULs. I injected the monsters who had fallen down with DT… And…_

_It didn’t work…_

_I saw no response to the injections, so I decided to inject them with DT at regular intervals. But, before I could carry out this plan, my mentor approached me…_

_He told me that, this was a terrible idea… that monsters could only withstand so much Determination before… before…_

_They melt…_

_I was horrified! I couldn’t believe what I almost did to these poor people! I, I stopped the experiment right away, and focused all my efforts on monitoring their vitals._

_None of them melted, while they were alive…_

_Once they turned to dust, some parts of them remained, those… pieces… slowly congealed together… and turned into the Memoryheads._

_I have kept the experiment’s results secret, but now, people are asking when they can see their loved ones again. They, they think I have somehow saved them! I can’t tell them I failed! How badly I failed! What I almost did to them! I CAN’T! I CAN’T!!!_

* * *

You don’t know what to say…

Memoryheads, Amalgamates…

If this ‘mentor’ didn’t stop Alphys when he did…

…You don’t want to think about what could have happened.

You tell Alphys it’s all right, she couldn’t have known this would happen.

Asriel joins in, “Y-yeah! Everyone makes mistakes! You just need to own up to them, that’s all!”

Alphys seems dejected, “D-don’t you get it!? They are d-DEAD! Because of me! I—!”

You ask Alphys if she invented death.

She seems surprised by your question, “Wh-what? I—!”

No, she didn’t. She is not to blame for this. She did not command these people to fall down; she did not drive a blade through theirs hearts as they slept. She tried to save them, but you can’t save everyone. Death is an inevitability, it cannot be stopped, only delayed. She did everything she could; no one can fault her for trying to save lives.

Both Asriel and Alphys seem stunned by your tirade.

Alphys recovers first, “But, wh-what do I do? I can’t just keep this a secret! I-I can’t!”

Asriel speaks up, “Then don’t. Tell everyone the truth, tell them that you tired, and that you’re sorry it didn’t work.”

“But what if they h-hate me!? I hate me! So of course they’ll h-hate me too!”

You repeat, that no one can fault her for trying to save lives. You tell her that, no matter what, Undyne will never hate her.

This seems to snap Alphys out of her downward spiral, “U-Undyne…?”

You tell Alphys if she gives up now, it will be like betraying the trust Undyne has placed in her. That if she runs from this, she will never be able to look Undyne in the eye again. You ask if this is what Alphys wants.

“N-No! I, I…”

Then tell Undyne the truth, only then can she begin to move forward.

“I… I… You, you’re right… Undyne deserves to know, the full truth about me… After I tell her, I’ll tell everyone else the truth…”

You tell Alphys she is doing the right thing. You tell her that no matter what, Undyne will always support her.

“…How can you be so c-certain…?”

Asriel chimes in, “Because Angel’s a really good match-maker! If they say it’s so, then it’s so!”

Alphys chuckles weakly, “Heh, g-getting advice from a couple of kids… well, I guess I’ve got to at least t-try… Thank you, both of you…”

You and Asriel both nod.

…Now… How do you get out of here?

Alphys gasps, “Oh, right! Y-you said the main elevator is broken! Um, there is another elevator over here! Follow me!”

Once safely outside, you manage to breathe a sigh of relief. You and Asriel part ways with Alphys, she says she needs to confess to Undyne on her own this time. You couldn’t agree more.

You tell Alphys she can find Undyne at the skele-bros house and she runs off, probably hoping to reach Undyne before she loses her nerve.

Once she’s gone you tell Asriel to follow you.

“Where are we going?”

The CORE.

* * *

A shadowy figure in a black coat stood, staring at a monitor displaying various readouts from the latest experiment. He already knew what the results would be, but he had to keep trying.

Eventually, the figure spoke, “…How long are you going to stand there, Sans?”

A low chuckle comes from a darkened corner of the room, “nothing gets past you, huh?”

“I presume you came here for a reason? I do not mean to sound rude, but you never come in on your days-off, unless something happens…”

Sans chuckles again, “yeah, you could say that…”

“…Is this about the phone call I received from Papyrus?”

“yup. i wanna know what you think. about what paps said.”

“I think it is wonderful that Papyrus has made a new friend. He even said his new friend is quite popular. I just hope this new friend isn’t misleading him…”

“…nah, i think the kiddo’s cool.”

The figure sighed, “I see… I wish Papyrus would make some friends his own age… Still, I fail to see why you came here simply to bring this up.”

“weeeell, the kiddo’s not exactly from around here, and i’m kinda hoping you’ll give ‘em a break?”

“Sans… I do not know what you are getting at, but I have the sneaking suspicion that this is either a setup for a pun… or there is something you are not telling me…”

Sans steps forward, into the light given off by the monitor, his permanent smile much weaker than usual.

“just, uh, bear this in mind, okay? i first saw the kid outside the ruins. since then, i’ve kept an eyesocket on ‘em, ya know, make sure they don’t get into trouble. they’ve gone through snowdin, waterfall and hotland, no incidents whatsoever…”

The figure narrows his eyes. “…If this is a setup for a ‘babysitting’ joke…”

Sans shakes his head, “nope, not a joke this time. but there’s still a punchline…”

“…What? Spit it out, Sans!”

“…the kid’s human.”

The figure’s whole body twitched once, before returning to complete stillness.

Several seconds passed. Sans didn’t dare breath, not that he needed to.

The figure turned to Sans, his eyes cold, dead.

“Where is the human, Sans? Tell me now!”

(Where is the human, Sans? Tell me now!)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Time: The CORE
> 
> Whew, that got heavy. At least I didn’t forget the trigger warning this time!  
> Also, I lied; there will be SOME fonts, only one for now. Enjoy the free translation!


	17. The CORE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The children travel though the CORE. The royal scientist makes his move.

Here it is, the CORE. You must admit, it is even more impressive up close.

The CORE rests on the edge of the volcanic crater that is Hotland, generating an immense amount of power. If the notes you stumbled upon at the True Lab were accurate, than this place also houses its own Advanced Research complex and a medical center.

If all that wasn’t enough, the CORE can also rearrange itself! Supposedly, this was meant as an emergency defense mechanism, used to confuse intruders and protect key areas.

That could make this place REALLY hard to navigate, but it should be fine as long as you don’t set off any alarms.

You doubt this place is rigged with ‘human detectors.’

…

You HOPE this place isn’t rigged with ‘human detectors.’

The main entrance isn’t locked, and you don’t hear any alarms blare when you walk in… so you should be fine.

Then you notice that no one is here.

You ask Asriel if this is normal.

“No, there should be people here. A few scientists, doctors… at the very least the receptionist… Maybe they really are conducting an experiment?”

…Maybe.

You tell Asriel that you need to keep going. He nods and follows you deeper into the CORE.

* * *

It’s obvious you are walking into a trap.

To be fair it was obvious ten minutes ago, but now…

Now you know that they aren’t trying to be subtle about it.

All the doors are locked, all the access ways are blocked by forcefields; no matter how far you go in, there is only ever one path forward.

Despite this, you keep walking.

Asriel, either not noticing, or simply trying to lighten the mood, speaks, “So, I never did thank you. You know, for saving me. So… Thank you.”

…What is he even talking about?

“You know! That green barrier! The one in the lab! You saved me, so I wanted to say thanks.”

…

You tell Asriel that you can’t use green magic.

“Huh, but aren’t you… You know… Can’t everyone who’s, um, like that, use all types of magic? Like monsters do?”

Normally, yes. However, you cannot. It’s not like you never tried, but whether it is healing magic or protection magic, you just can’t do it. The magic fizzles out the moment you try.

“But… That magic, it came from you… so you had to—”

You quickly tell Asriel that it must have been Alphys.

“…No, I know it came from you… I FELT it come from you…”

…

Asriel seems upset, but you have no interest in discussing the matter. You remain silent for the rest of the trip.

That is, until you finally meet someone.

The figure is standing with their back to you, so you can’t see their face, but you can still make out some details.

They are wearing a black suit with white accents, it almost looks like a tuxedo, but the design is all wrong, it takes you a moment to realize that they are simply scientist scrubs, colored-black for some reason. Their hands are tucked behind their back, one lightly clasping the other, you notice the hands are skeletal, with a large hole in the middle of each. This monster must be a skeleton; they are about as tall as Papyrus… You wonder if they might be related.

The figure makes no indication that they noticed you, they continue to stare at the holographic screen in front of them. It would be best to leave as soon as possible.

…But you already know, this person knows you are here, and they know that you know that they know.

You decide to end this farce.

You ask the figure if they are the one who rearranged to CORE.

The figure chuckles, the screen disappears, and they turn to you.

The murderous intent wafting off this monster is unlike anything you have felt before. It takes all of your willpower not to smile in anticipation.

The figure speaks, “Indeed. I am Dr. W.D. Gaster, inventor of the CORE facility in which you now stand.”

…Unlike Sans and Papyrus, this skeleton doesn’t speak with a font. You ask Dr. Gaster if the ‘W.D.’ stands for Wing Dings.

Dr. Gaster’s bored expression shifts, it seems he was slightly impressed. “Indeed. I see that you are more perceptive than I thought. Or, perhaps you are simply familiar with certain monster customs?”

You nod twice, indicating that he is right on both points. You ask Dr. Gaster for his pronouns.

Dr. Gaster seems confused, but he answers regardless, “He/Him, if you please. I presume you use They/Them?”

You nod once. You ask Dr. Gaster if he is willing to let you leave. Asriel suddenly seems tense.

Dr. Gaster’s expression hardens, “No. I am sorry to say, you will not be leaving here alive.”

You start to ask Dr. Gaster if he intends to break the barrier, but Asriel interrupts you, “Dr. W.D. Gaster! As the crown Prince of the Netherworld, I command you to stand down!”

Dr. Gaster chuckles again, “I am sorry, young prince. But this is for the good of all monsterkind.”

“I won’t let you—!” A floating hand suddenly appears and seizes Asriel by the throat!

Dr. Gaster speaks, “No. You will do no such thing. When you are king, you may have me executed, if you like. But I will not be stopped here.”

A hatch opens in the floor, the floating Hands drops Asriel into it!

You lunge for Asriel, but another hand seizes you by the throat! The hatch closes.

…You can’t breathe!

Dr. Gaster speaks, “Just in case you are capable of empathy, do not worry. The young prince has been sent to a safe zone. There are other monsters there to keep him company, while I eliminate the threat: You.”

The crushing grip on your throat tightens.

“I will put an end to anyone, who would dare to endanger a member of the royal family. I will make you regret attempting the use the young prince as a shield.”

Darkness encroaches on the edges of you vision.

“I will take your SOUL to Asgore, and with it… monsterkind shall finally be free! With the power of seven human SOULs, monsterkind will retake the Overworld from you wretched humans. You will all burn for what you have done to us!”

Your consciousness is fading, you can’t stay awake… You can’t…

…You feel… regret… Why?

…Asriel…

…

You feel your HP hit zero.

…

But it refused.

Your eyes shoot open and a red fire-like light emerges from them!

You release a burst of kinetic energy, which shatters the hand around your throat! You fall to the ground gasping for breath.

“What!? A sorcerer? Here?”

You tell Gaster that you did not come here to see anyone burn, you tell him that you will stop him and his madness.

“You dare call ME mad!? You, a blood-crazed human? That is almost funny!”

Large skull-like creatures appear around you! You sense tremendous power building within them. You use blue magic to enhance your jump height and leap as high into the air as you can. The skulls fire beams from their mouths!

If you had been hit by that, nothing would have been left of you but your SOUL!

You land on the ground, hard. Even so, you don’t miss a beat, you check Gaster.

* W.D. Gaster – 66 ATK 66 DEF

* The Royal Scientist. He wants nothing more than to kill you.

“So you were able to dodge my Gaster Blasters… Well, let us see if you can dodge this!”

Gaster summons a series of bones that quickly rush you in groups from all sides. Even so, you can tell this is just a feint; his real attack is a series of Gaster Blasters that appear and fire in a spiral pattern.

You barely mange to avoid being hit by the blasters, but one of the bones leaves a nasty gash in your arm.

Gaster is on a completely different level than anyone else before him. You can tell he has killed before, and that he isn’t holding back in the slightest.

You aren’t sure if you can win this, you aren’t even sure if you should…

Gaster says nothing as he launches another wave of bones, interspaced by blaster shots. At the last moment, he slams you against the ceiling using blue magic! It takes you a moment to realize that he shifted your gravity. During that moment bones break through the ceiling, thankfully, you noticed at the last second, and jumped into the air.

While still in mid-air, Gaster shifts your gravity back down, and you nearly break your neck during the landing. Judging from the look on Gaster’s face, that was what he was hoping for.

You tell Gaster you don’t want to fight him.

“I find that hard to believe. Humans are incapable of showing mercy to anyone, not even each other.”

…You can’t bring yourself to argue with that.

Another round of bone attacks, no blasters this time, which makes you nervous.

You tell Gaster that you met two nice skeleton monsters, Comic Sans and Papyrus, you ask him if he knows them.

“Yes, I know of them. They are family to me, and you will not harm them.”

Gaster uses a series of blasters this time, along with shifting gravity. You nearly lose your head at the end, literally.

You tell Gaster that you would never hurt them, Papyrus is too nice to hurt and Sans is too funny.

“Attempting to mislead me, by discussing my family, will not work, human!”

Another round of bones and blasters and gravity shifts. You get hit twice by bones, and badly sprain your left arm during a rough landing.

* “Angel” – 9/20 HP

You need to end this quickly.

You tell Gaster that some humans are pure evil, but not all of them. You tell Gaster that you are not his enemy.

“ALL humans are my enemy!”

More bones, this time there are blue and orange bones mixed in. Sadly, despite your familiarity with blue and orange attacks you get the colors confused. Your injures are catching up with you too, if you were at full strength when the fight started, you would have been fine, but now…

* “Angel” – 1/20 HP

“Any last words, human?”

…

“Very well, then.” A pair of blasters appear on either side of Gaster. “Die.”

The blasters fire, you are too tired to dodge…

The blasters’ beams envelope you.

…

The smoke clears and Gaster stares in disbelief at what he sees.

* “Angel” – 0.1/20 HP

“How!? How can you still be alive!?”

You take a step towards Gaster. He summons another pair of blasters and fires again.

* “Angel” – 0.01/20 HP

You slowly continue walking towards Gaster. He fires another pair of blasters.

* “Angel” – 0.001/20 HP

“Why, why won’t you die!?” He doesn’t stop attacking.

* “Angel” – 0.0001/20 HP

You don’t stop walking.

* “Angel” – 0.00001/20 HP

“Stop! Stop this at once!”

* “Angel” – 0.000001/20 HP

Gaster takes a step back, fear plainly visible on his face.

* “Angel” – 0.0000001/20 HP

Gaster summons about thirty blasters and fires them!

*Miss*

*Slash!*

…

…

…

You now stand behind Gaster, your back toward him and your sword drawn. You tell Gaster you’re sorry.

Both of you turn around and face each other. You look like you could drop dead at a moment’s notice. Gaster looks no better… Considering there is a huge gash across his front.

“…Looks as though you were not strong enough after all.”

Gaster summons another blaster and fires! You can’t move anymore, your body is completely exhausted.

You brace yourself for more searing pain.

A wall of bones appears and blocks the attack!

“…phew. looks like i made it just in time, huh kiddo?” That voice, it’s Sans!

The wall of bones resides into the floor and Sans teleports in front of you.

Gaster seems pissed, 

“Sans! What the hell are you DOING!?”

(Sans! What the hell are you DOING!?)

…You’re not sure, but you think you understood that, somehow…

“stopping you from doing something you’ll regret, that’s what! you gotta stop this, g. this isn’t like you at all!”

“Humans betrayed us! They slaughtered our kind! They dusted countless innocent monsters! Humans deserve no mercy for what they have done!”

(Humans betrayed us! They slaughtered our kind! They dusted countless innocent monsters! Humans deserve no mercy for what they have done!)

“yeah, i know… i’ve heard the stories too, ya know. i know you were alive then and i can’t even begin to understand how you feel, but i do know this… this isn’t you, g. if you do this, we both know you’re gonna regret it later. humans thought the worst of us and they attacked. if you kill this human… you’ll be proving the humans were right all along.”

Sans takes a deep breath, “humans killed so many people; men, women, children, the stories say they killed every monster they could find… but right now, g… you are the only one acting like a blood-crazed human!”

“I am NOTHING like those humans!”

(I am NOTHING like those humans!)

Sans points to you, “then why are you torturing this poor human? in case you didn’t notice, they’re a kid too.”

“This ‘kid’ is a Sorcerer, Sans! They are a red-SOUL Sorcerer! They could kill us all if we give them the chance!”

(This ‘kid’ is a Sorcerer, Sans! They are a red-SOUL Sorcerer! They could kill us all if we give them the chance!)

Sans points at the gash in Gaster’s torso, “then, why are you still alive?”

“Because they failed to kill me, what other explanation is there?”

(Because they failed to kill me, what other explanation is there?)

Sans chuckles, “have ya ever heard the saying, ‘ _check_ yourself, before you wreck yourself’?”

“What are you trying to—”

(What are you trying to—)

Gaster’s expression falls, he slowly raises a hand to his chest, as if feeling his wound for the first time.

Sans shrugs his shoulders, “now do you see it, g? the kiddo left you with exactly half your hp… that sort of thing doesn’t happen by accident. they’re trying to spare you.”

Gaster seems confused and upset, “They FIGHT to try and show MERCY? Do you even hear yourself, Sans? No sane person would ever DO something like this!”

Sans shrugs again, “…did you leave them any other choice?”

Gaster falls silent.

During this exchange, you were able to passively heal, but only a little.

* “Angel” – 1/20 HP

You manage to regain enough motor control to walk, albeit very slowly. You walk past Sans and tell Gaster you are sorry. If he still wants to kill you, he can. However, he has to promise that he won’t take his revenge on humanity. As bad as they are, they don’t deserve genocide.

“kid, you don’t have to do this…”

Gaster’s eyesockets harden; he summons blasters, bones and skeletal hands. You close your eyes as they all descend on you.

You allow them to strike you.

…

…

…?

* “Angel” – 1/20 HP

You open your eyes and look down. At first glance, it looks the bones have impaled you in several places, but you soon notice that the attacks have somehow phased through you!

…This isn’t your doing. You don’t know how something like this is possible! How are you alive?

You step back and the bones continue to phase through you. You keep walking until you are free of the attacks.

Sans, as if sensing your confusion, explains, “gaster, is sparing you, kiddo.”

…What?

“when a monster doesn’t want to fight, it weakens them abit. if they can’t bring themselves to hurt someone, then they can’t hurt them, it’s really that simple.”

Both you and Gaster remain silent as the bones disappear.

“think of it this way, a monster cannot directly hurt someone, with magic, by accident. provided, they are using magic correctly. get it?”

…Gaster doesn’t want to hurt you? At all?

Why?

Gaster sighs, “Because I was a fool, blinded by my own rage… I let the tragedy from 3,000 years ago cloud my judgment, for that, I apologize…”

Gaster bows deeply, it seems he is truly ashamed of his behavior.

You tell Gaster you forgive him.

Gaster returns to his ramrod straight posture. “Thank you, human, but my actions are unforgivable; I defied the king, I attempted to kill you, to take your SOUL.”

Wait, how did he defy the king?

“King Asgore decreed that any human that falls into the Netherworld must be brought to the capital, alive if possible. I tried to kill you; I defied the king’s order in doing so.”

Why would the king want the humans alive? Doesn’t he need human SOULs to break the barrier?

“yeah, but he isn’t a killer. i’m guessing the plan is to just, let them live. maybe when they die of old age, or whatever it is that kills humans over time, then he might decide to store their SOUL for use against the barrier. heh, knowing ol’ king fluffybuns, if the other humans survived their fall… he and the queen would have started a daycare.”

Sans pauses for a moment before continuing, “course, you’re the only one who ever survived. so i guess we’ll never know for sure…”

…

This changes things…

Gaster speaks, “Human—”

“…Angel” Sans corrects.

“Angel, I swear that I will do whatever I can to assist you from this day forth. I will not rest until I have made amends for what I have done to you.”

You tell Gaster that if he wants to make amends, he will change his ways and not allow himself be blinded by grief and rage. There are enough people like that in the world already.

Gaster chuckles weakly, “Very well, I shall try.”

…You also ask Gaster to keep your presence a secret, if possible.

“Why? The king should be notified post-haste!”

“nah, the kiddo’s been heading that way for a while now. i’m guessin’ the other kiddo wants to introduce them to the king, himself.”

Gaster tilts his head to one side and rubs his chin with one hand. “I suppose that makes sense, oh! The prince!” The holographic screen from earlier reappears and Gaster begins typing something into it. Once he is done, he dismisses the screen once more. “There! I have created a path that will allow the prince to meet you at the rooftop exit. From there, you may continue to New Home. As for your request, I will keep this a secret for now, but I WILL contact King Asgore sometime after nightfall. To ensure both you and the young prince get home safely.”

…Home?

Sans chuckles at your reaction, “yup, it’s obvious that the prince and you are great friends. if you meet the dreemurrs… you are gonna have a great life… no _bones_ about it.”

“Indeed, the Dreemurrs once spoke about how they wished they could have another child, but it would be improper for them to adopt a monster.”

Dreemurrs… adopt you… family… Why?

…You can’t understand.

“course they won’t if it makes you uncomfortable… anyways, you better get going, nightfall is fast approaching…”

…Nightfall?

Oh, right! Dr. Gaster said he was going to call King Asgore about you by nightfall.

It looks like you have a hard-set deadline now!

You quickly thank the two skeletons and depart through the only other exit in the room.

* * *

After traversing several rooms, you manage to reach the end of the CORE.

Asriel is there waiting for you. “A-Angel! Y-You’re okay!”

Asriel hugs you, but you tell him you have no time! You lie and tell Asriel that if you don’t reach the castle before nightfall, Dr. Gaster will call his parents and he will get in trouble.

“What? Really? Then we better move, c’mon!”

You nod once and the two of you step out into the dying light of day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Time: The Choice
> 
> Hurry, kids! You don’t want to be grounded, do you?  
> Looks like everything will be fine from now on…


	18. The Choice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The children reach the capital city of New Home, at last.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING: Suicidal Implications, Mentions of Death, Mentions of Murder

It seems that New Home was built on top of a high plateau, overlooking most of the kingdom.

The view is breathtaking, but you don’t have time to stop and enjoy it.

There are semi-automated trams running across the town. Asriel hops aboard one of them, saying it will take you to the castle.

You have nothing to do while riding the tram, so you decide enjoy the view.

After nearly a minute, Asriel speaks up, “Angel, did you know that I was a prince?”

You nod once.

“…How long have you known?”

You tell Asriel that you figured it out straight away. You knew the name of the monster king, Asgore Dreemurr, so when Asriel introduced himself as ‘Asriel Dreemurr’ it was a fairly easy connection to make.

“Oh…”

You tell Asriel that you don’t care if he’s royalty.

“…They all say that…”

You turn to Asriel, your eyes cold. You tell Asriel to look at you and he complies.

You tell Asriel that a royal title doesn’t mean anything. The only thing that matters is WHO you are, not WHAT you are. Human, monster, commoner, royalty… In the end, everyone is the same, whether they like it or not…

“…Do you mean it…? You really don’t care?”

You nod once.

Asriel looks like he might cry, again. “Thank you, Angel. I’m really glad I met you.”

You smile and nod once. Asriel laughs.

After a moment Asriel seems to remember something, he pulls out his phone and begins fussing with it. He is probably sending a text to his parents, hoping he won’t get in trouble.

Several minutes later and the tram reaches the castle. You and Asriel hop off.

The ‘castle’ looks more like a large mansion, than a castle. The garden behind it is huge, though!

Once inside, you find the interior is very simple. It’s very… rustic.

Asriel seems very excited, “Ta da! This is my house!”

You made it, at long last. The end of your journey is at hand…

You visibly wince and clutch your side.

“H-hold on! I’ll get mom and dad! Wait right here!” Asriel runs off down the main hallway.

You correct your posture. It looks like that bought you some time. You close your eyes and focus. At this distance, you should be able to sense them… There they are!

You turn and head down one of the side passages. The layout of this place is fairly simple, so it doesn’t look like you will get lost. You make a mental note of the layout; running into any of the Dreemurrs would make this much harder than it needs to be…

You end up standing in a long corridor.

After a moment, it dawns on you. This is a Judgment Hall. You haven’t seen one of these in forever! You can’t help but wonder why monsters would build something like this inside the castle.

You keep walking, not letting this realization slow you down.

Suddenly, Sans is standing before you. When did he get here?

You stop dead in your tracks.

When Sans speaks, he does so without his usual font, “So, you have finally arrived. In a few moments, you will meet the King, and together, you will decide the fate of humans and monsters. That’s then… Now, you will be judged. You will be judged for every EXP you have collected.”

You remain silent.

Sans continues, “What’s EXP? It’s an acronym, it stands for ‘EXecution Points.’ It is a way of measuring how much hurt you have inflicted on others. When your EXP increases, your LV, or LOVE increases.”

You remain silent.

“LOVE too, is an acronym. It stands for ‘Level Of ViolencE.’ The more LOVE you have, the easier it is to distance yourself, and the harder it is to be hurt, and the easier it is to hurt others.”

You remain silent.

“Now, look inside yourself. Have you truly done the right thing?”

You remain silent.

“…”

…

Sans speaks again, his usual font and demeanor returned, “that’s, uh… not a rhetorical question. normally, it is. but in this case…”

You remain silent.

Sans sighs, “let me just tell what i know, okay? when you came outta’ the ruins, i was scared shitless. i was afraid, afraid for all the monsters in the ruins, afraid you… well, ya know…”

You remain silent.

“so, i decide to keep an eyesocket out for ya, and not just because of my little promise. but because i was convinced that you were gonna… cause trouble. then you played with paps, like any other kiddo. i started to think i had you pegged wrong… kinda hurt my pride abit…”

You remain silent.

“so i decided to just straight up ask you questions, trying to figure you out. you were there for that, so you know i failed pretty hard… still, i tried again… and the more i learned … the more it hurt…”

You remain silent.

“so tell me kiddo, and you better be honest, ‘k?”

…

The lights in Sans eyesockets disappear.

“ **Did you tell Asriel that you plan to kill yourself?** ”

You can’t help but wince.

Sans’ eyelights return, “…guess not. if ya did… well, we both know he wouldn’t let ya.”

You remain silent.

“let me set the record straight, kiddo. if you do this, monsters will be freed. 3,000 years of imprisonment, ended in an instant… but it’s not worth it… our freedom isn’t worth your life… so please, just stop. just go be a happy family with the prince and his folks. down here, you have everything you could want; good food, bad laughs… a place to belong…”

You remain silent.

Sans sighs, “if you think dying can make up for what you’ve done on the surface, think again… those sins will never wash out…”

You have heard enough.

You draw your blade and rush Sans!

Your blade now rests against his neck. You tell Sans that you aren’t doing this because you foolishly seek redemption, you are doing this because you think the Grand Barrier is an eyesore! You hate the barrier and that is why you will destroy it, no matter the cost!

Sans, makes no effort to defend himself, it’s almost as if he expected this. “heh, you’re really trying to believe that, aren’t you?”

You remain silent.

“i knew from the start… you have 20 LOVE… the highest possible amount any SOUL can have. and yet, here you are… throwing away your life for people you barely know… honestly, you’re kinda sending me mixed signals here.”

You remain silent.

“kids like you… killers like you… why would someone like you, throw away your life like this? trying to help someone else? help me out kid, i’m afraid i don’t get it.”

…You don’t know why either.

“that expression, you don’t know why either, huh?”

Sans slowly backs away until he is no longer in attack range, you make no effort to stop him.

“i just want you to know… that despite everything… you are not a bad person…”

You tell Sans you ARE a bad person, the worst kind of person. Over 200 people are dead because of you, and you don’t regret it at all.

“…but you tried to regret, didn’t you?”

…

“…who was the first person you killed?”

A murderer.

“and the next?”

Another murderer.

“and after that?”

…What is Sans getting at?

“heh, you still don’t get it, do ya…? having LOVE doesn’t make you a bad person. evil is a choice; you choose to do bad things, you choose to hurt people… i’m not saying what you did was justified, but i am starting to see a pattern develop…”

You remain silent.

“the look in your eyes is the look of someone who’s trying very hard to not care. trying very hard to be a remorseless killer… i can’t even imagine what kind of life could turn someone into this… but, i’ll bet you anything… that this isn’t the real you, is it?”

You remain silent. 

“either way, you made it all the way here, and with as powerful as you are… you could hurt a lot of people… but you didn’t… over the course of your journey you didn’t hurt anyone… well, ‘cept g. but there was no way ‘round that one…”

You remain silent.

“down here, you never once gained LOVE, but you gained ----. does that make sense? probably not.”

…You can’t understand.

“welp, if you do go through with this… it’s been real. seeya, kiddo.”

Sans walks behind one of the nearby pillars and disappears.

…

Your hand is shaking.

Why is your hand shaking?

You can’t stop the shaking…

You drop the Angel Blade. You don’t need it anymore…

You continue down the judgment hall.

…

You find a locked door. It looks like it leads to some kind of vault. What you seek is on the other side.

There is an electronic keypad next to the door. Considering Asgore was the one who gave all these places such uncreative names, you doubt he could come with a good password.

You punch in Asriel’s birthday. Incorrect!

Hmm… You punch in Asriel’s birthday, backwards. Correct!

The doors slide open. Inside you find some rather impressive looking piles of gold and magical trinkets. However, your objective’s value is beyond compare.

In the middle of the room, stand seven SOUL containers. You quickly go over each one.

As expected, six of them are filled.

Cyan, Orange, Blue, Green, Purple, Yellow… All the SOULs are here…

The only color missing is red. But you intend to fix that.

You briefly consider putting your SOUL in the last container. It would probably hurt less… but pain is irrelevant now…

You steel your Determination and reach out. You call out to the SOULs, you beg them to grant you their power.

They silently agree.

You use blue magic to open the containers. The SOULs float out and start to slowly circle you.

With the SOULs in tow, you head for the nearest exit.

…

You find yourself standing in the garden, surrounded by golden flowers. You turn your gaze towards the sky, towards the Grand Barrier.

Twilight is shining through the barrier… Your journey is at it’s end…

You are filled with DETERMINATION!

You draw forth your SOUL, the seven SOULS float into sky. They form a circle and start to spin. Faster and faster, the colored-lights growing brighter, until…

A ray of white light emerges from the SOULs and streaks towards the sky!

The ray of light collides with some unseen force. The sky itself flashes…!

The barrier was destroyed.

The SOULs weakly float back down to you, their power spent. You can’t feel anything anymore, your Determination has left you.

It’s over.

“…Angel?”

You turn your head, it’s Asriel. He looks scared.

The SOULs of the other fallen humans start to shatter, one by one.

Asriel looks scared. Why is he scared? He’s free now…

…You can’t understand.

You give Asriel one last smile.

‘Goodbye, Asriel…’

Your SOUL shatters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Time: The End
> 
> Game Over, Continue?
> 
> Yes [ **No** ]


	19. The End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fallen human completes their journey. It's time to say goodbye...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Important Note: Since this chapter is VERY dialog-heavy, I have decided to put Angel’s spoken lines in ‘single quotation marks, like this.’ But only for this chapter!

You open your eyes and look around.

…Looks like you died again.

You call this place the Dark Room. It is exactly what it sounds like, a room of total nothing-ness.

The darkness in this isn’t even real; it is simply an absence of anything, an absence of everything.

You sit up, and look down at the small field of golden flowers the surrounds you.

‘…That’s new.’

You have an odd habit of talking to yourself here. You used to do it all the time, in the waking world; but people would constantly chastise you for being creepy.

You force yourself to your feet and look around again. After a few moments of scanning the endless nothing-ness around you, you see it. A door. You always wondered what was beyond that door. But now, you know… it leads to whatever world is after this one… assuming there is one…

You never really thought about it before, at least not like this…

The door opens; the nothing-ness beyond the door is different from the nothing-ness out here. You can’t tell how, but you know it’s different.

You start walking towards the door.

Suddenly, you hear someone call your name…

“Angel… please… don’t go…”

That voice sounds familiar… Asriel…?

“Angel, please… wake up…”

No, you are quite done with this world, and all that it has done to you.

You are about to continue walking, when something grabs you!

You spin around to see Asriel. How did he get in here? No one can enter this place, except you!

“Angel… please… I don’t… I don’t want you to go…”

‘You should be smiling, you are finally free… You can see the stars, see the world…’

“But, but we promised we would… we would see the stars together!”

‘This was the only way this journey could end… This was the only way monsters could go free…’

“That’s not true! We, we could have found a way, a better way! You don’t have to go!”

‘…Don’t be selfish, Asriel. Every monster wishes for freedom, I am willing to give it to them. Every one of them gets exactly what they wanted, freedom…’

“If you asked any of our friends, if they would rather have a lifetime of freedom, or spend a lifetime with you, every one of them would choose you!”

‘…Don’t project your hopes onto other people. That in unbecoming of future ruler…’

“But it’s the truth! Everyone is here, with us! I texted them, we decided to throw a surprise party for you! But, you… We found you… outside…”

‘…Who is… everyone?’

“HUMAN! YOU CANNOT GIVE UP! JUST DO WHAT I WOULD DO! BELIEVE IN YOU! NYEH HEH HEH!”

That’s… that’s Papyrus’ voice.

“come on, kiddo. you can’t just throw in the towel now… trust me, giving up is the worst kind of mistake…”

…Sans? Where are these voices coming from?

“Listen here, PUNK! If you were able to get past me, then you can do anything! So you better WAKE THE HELL UP! I’m not letting my bestie just die like that!”

…Undyne?

“W-well, technically speaking, they are already dead, and they can’t hear us… But. But! If anyone c-could survive having their SOUL shattered… It’s you, no questions a-asked!”

…Alphys.

“COME NOW, DARLING! WE ALL KNOW YOU ARE JUST PAUSING FOR DRAMATIC EFFECT! BUT YOU’VE OVERDONE IT! YOU NEED TO COME BACK TO US ALREADY!”

Even Mettaton…

“Human, Angel… I will adhere to my promise. However, you must live if I am to properly thank you for your aid. You must awaken!”

Dr. Gaster too… Why…?

“Please, my child… Open up your eyes… I… I do not wish to bury another child…”

…You don’t know this voice… Is it the Queen?

“It cannot end here! Angel! Stay Determined!”

…Another new voice… King Asgore?

…You can’t understand.

Asriel smiles, “See? Even though you have only known them for a short while, they already care about you. They want you to live; they want you to be happy.”

…You can’t understand.

“I know that, deep down, you don’t want to say good-bye either, so please stay with us…”

…You can’t understand!

“…Please… You’re my best friend…”

…You can’t understand! WHY CAN’T YOU UNDERSTAND!?

There is a sudden pain in your head! It feels like something in your head is being torn apart! You double-over from the pain!

Certain memories come to mind…

  


* * *

  


“I BELIEVE WE ARE JUST WHAT THE HUMAN NEEDS, TO LEARN A VALUABLE LIFE LESSON!”

“and what lesson is that?”

“----, SANS, THE HUMAN MUST LEARN ----!”

  


* * *

  


“down here, you never once gained LOVE, but you gained ----. does that make sense? probably not.”

  


* * *

  


‘Asriel… Help me… I… I can’t understand…’

Asriel gives you a patient smile, “Angel, it’s really simple… everyone ----s you. It’s not hard to understand.”

‘I don’t even know what you’re trying to say! Just… just make this feeling go away! It hurts! Make it stop!’

Asriel doesn’t stop smiling, he steps forward and hugs you. You try to push him away, but he doesn’t let go.

‘Why? Why are you doing this? Why? …I can’t understand.’

Asriel says nothing, he simply continues to hold you.

What is this word, this feeling, this thought…? No matter what you do, it eludes you…

“I know you can do this, Angel. I believe in you.”

…

…

Why?

You close your eyes and grab onto this feeling. No matter how much it hurts, you refuse to let it go!

\----

L---

Lo--

Lov-

Love

…

…You finally understand.

Love… the ability to care about others.

This is it, the thing that you forgot about somewhere along the way.

…That means, this pain…

…Is the pain of losing someone you care about…

Tears start to fall down your face. You return Asriel’s hug and start openly crying into his shoulder. He doesn’t seem to mind.

You lose track of how long you were crying, before you remember that time itself has no meaning in this place…

Finally, you stop crying. 

‘I’m sorry, Asriel.’

“It’s okay, Angel. Let’s go home.”

…Home? Yeah, that sounds nice…

The thought of seeing your friends once more, fills you with DETERMINATION!

A golden light envelopes the Dark Room as the nothing-ness vanishes from view.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Time: The Thing You Needed Most
> 
> …But it refused.  
> ACT 1 Theme: Would Anyone Care by Citizen Solider


	20. The Thing You Needed Most

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bring it in, guys!

You open your eyes.

You immediately regret your decision.

The light stings your eyes. After allowing your eyes to adjust, you slowly sit up and look around.

You appear to be in a bedroom, you have never been here before. Judging from the décor, it must be a child’s bedroom, the colorful-wallpaper reminds you of Asriel. Is this his room?

You notice that your equipment is gone! Thankfully, you quickly spot of the Crimson Cloak and the Angel Blade, sitting on a desk on the far side of the room. You breathe a sigh of relief.

You carefully climb out of bed, and nearly fall on your face!

Your legs feel different…

…

…You… you’re healed?

You experiment for a moment, tensing your muscles and bending your knees.

You look at the nearby wall, there’s nothing on it…

You run towards the wall, when you reach it, you start to run up the wall! After a few steps, you kick off the wall, do a cool backflip and land in a dramatic pose!

Looks like your career in gymnastics isn’t over yet! …Not that you HAVE a career, but still.

You quickly collect and re-equip your gear. You felt naked without a weapon and armor.

You quietly make your way out of the room. You find yourself in a familiar-looking hallway. It looks like the small house from the ruins…

Is this the home of the royal family?

You hear voices in the distance, and decide to investigate. 

“Don’t worry, my son. The human will be fine. They seem very Determined.”

If you remember correctly, that must be Asgore’s voice.

You walk into the living room and the voices stop. Three Boss Monsters are staring at you.

Asriel practically tackles you with a hug.

…You finally understand.

You return Asriel’s hug.

You introduce yourself as politely as you can.

One of the other Boss Monsters speaks, “Greetings, I am Toriel Dreemurr.” Queen Toriel gestures to the Boss Monster standing beside her. “This is my husband, Asgore Dreemurr. You already know our son, Asriel Dreemurr, do you not?” The Queen smiles warmly.

King Asgore speaks next, “Howdy! Golly, you gave us quite a scare, Angel. We’re glad you’re all right.”

…So THAT’S where Asriel learned to say ‘golly.’ You groan internally.

Asriel doesn’t let go of you, even when he says, “Mom, can we have that party now?”

A Party?

The Queen ponders the question, before nodding, “If Angel is feeling okay, I do not see why not.”

You don’t like parties. Regardless, you ask who will be there.

Asriel releases you; he looks like he might explode from excitement. “Everyone! Sans and Papyrus, Undyne and Alphys, Mettaton, Dr. Gaster…! Everyone wanted to know the moment you woke up! We all agreed to throw you a welcoming party! …If you want to that is.”

A party… with all of your… friends…?

That sounds… nice. You nod once.

The Queen smiles again, “Very well. Gorey, please be a dear, and contact Undyne, Alphys and Gaster. I will call Sans and Papyrus, I am sure that one of them will know how to contact Mettaton.”

‘Gorey?’ Uhg, they are one of those disgustingly lovey-dovey couples, aren’t they?

…You realize that you said that aloud.

Everyone starts laughing.

…You can’t help but join in.

  


* * *

  


The party is more fun than you expected.

It turns out that being surrounded by people you care about is quite fun. Who would have guessed it?

During the party, you learn that you were unconscious for a full day. Everyone was worried.

You tell everyone you are sorry. Everyone expresses their gratefulness; Undyne expresses it much more loudly than anyone else.

You can’t help but laugh at your new friends’ antics.

As the party starts to wind down, King Asgore pulls you aside.

“Angel, I know you have done so much for us… And you do not owe us anything. However, I was wondering if you would be willing to be our Ambassador?”

You ask King Asgore why he would want YOU to be Ambassador.

Asgore smiles weakly, “I… was made aware of the, regrettable, actions of some of my subordinates. However, you handled those matters peacefully, in spite of threats of violence. You also displayed considerable intellect and problem-solving skills. Furthermore, I can say with absolute certainty, that you know more about human politics than any monster, myself included…”

That’s right, monsters have been down here for over 3,000 years. The world has changed a lot in that time. Heck, in the last 30 years alone, the entire world had a cultural and political renaissance.

You tell King Asgore that you would be honored to serve as Ambassador.

King Asgore nods, “Thank you, Angel. But, you may simply call me Asgore.”

Asgore extends a large hand to you, you shake it.

Suddenly, a wild Papyrus appears, again!

You start to wonder if Papyrus is secretly a ninja, and that his loud manner of speaking is just a way to counter-act his natural stealthy-ness.

“IF THE HUMAN ANGEL IS GOING TO BECOME THE AMBASSADOR! THEN I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL WORK TIRELESSLY TO BECOME THE WORLD’S GREATEST MASCOT! NYEH HEH HEH!”

Sans shows up too, “so… I guess that means you’re a _bone_ -ified hero now, huh?”

“SANS! DO NOT ATTEMPT TO RUIN THIS FOR ME! THIS IS CLEARLY THE BEST POSSIBLE ENDING!”

Queen Toriel walks in, “Please, Sans… Don’t _rib_ your brother the wrong way.”

Sans chuckles, Papyrus cries in faux-agony. “I TAKE IT BACK! THIS IS THE WORST POSSIBLE ENDING!”

Everyone starts laughing.

  


* * *

  


The party finally ends, and everyone goes home.

Queen Toriel approaches you, “My child… I know you came from the Overworld. Do you… have somewhere you can go, do you not…?”

…Honestly, you don’t have anywhere you need to be. Certainly nowhere you WANT to be.

You shake your head ‘no.’

Queen Toriel’s smile falls somewhat, “I see…If you have nowhere to go… You are more than welcome to stay with us. I am certain Asriel would be happy if you stayed.”

The words leave your mouth before you can even think them: I want to stay with you.

Queen Toriel’s smile brightens considerably, it seems this is what she was hoping you would say. “Very well, Angel. We shall take care of you, for as long as you need.”

Toriel offers her hand, you take it.

  


* * *

  


Sometime later, you discover that your phone as an un-played Voicemail.

You decide to listen to it.

“hello? anyone there?” It’s Sans. “welp, guess i’ll leave a message.”

“if you’re hearing this, then i guess things worked out… i’m proud of ya, kiddo… somehow, against all odds… you managed to make everyone happy. monsters are over the moon, what with the barrier being destroyed and all… and nobody had to die. you really are something special.”

“heh, after you nearly gave everyone a heart attack… g, gaster, told everyone what happened, he told everyone what he did. he practically threw himself at the king’s feet… never seen him so humble before, it was, uh, kinda weird honestly. heh, needless to say both the king and queen were NOT happy about this. then undyne spoke up, told ‘em about how she tried to kill you too… then alphys told them about her failed experiment… yeah, it turned into a real apology party, let me tell ya…”

“everyone was begging for forgiveness, and their jobs… after asriel gave this rousing speech about forgiveness, the king and queen decided to let everyone off the hook… this time… the queen made it very clear that if they even looked at you cross… well, you get the idea.”

“…speaking of the queen, turns out she was my pun pal this whole time. what are the chances, huh? we talked about what happened, about you and the prince… i gave her a full report… and plenty of terrible jokes. she’s really worried about you… so am i… so you better wake up soon, ‘k?”

“don’t worry… i kept your little secret, both of ‘em… you don’t want ‘em to judge you for being a you-know-what, right? with all the apologizing, g completely forgot to mention that part… as for your… original intentions… i’m pretty sure only myself and the prince have figured it out… ‘course, once the others learn about ya… they will figure it out real quick… heh, but i know… they won’t judge ya for it.”

“oh, and about your LOVE? forgetaboutit… me, paps, g, and the dreemurrs… we’re the only ones who know… we plan to keep it that way. they say boss monsters can tell at a glance if someone is truly evil or not. i don’t know if that’s true… but they don’t seem to mind? so, i guess you’re cool in their book.”

“whoops… looks like this thing is about to run out of batteries… welp, guess that’s it then… when you wake up… you’re gonna have a good time… heh, don’t say i didn’t warn ya…”

*Click*

  


* * *

  


Asriel wants to show you something.

Asriel hands you a small box, “Here! I, I made this for you!”

You take the box and open it.

Inside is a small, heart-shaped locket. The ‘heart’ resembles a red human SOUL, surrounded by gold and connected to a thin gold chain.

You open the locket. Inside is a picture your friends took of you and Asriel. Asriel is openly smiling and you are shyly hiding your face behind some golden flowers. On the other side, there is an engraving: Best Friends Forever.

You close the locket. You stare at it…

* The Red Locket - Accessory

* Created by Asriel Dreemurr. Once per day, allows the wearer to use the ‘Dreemurr Special’ magic attack.

…

You tell Asriel that this is the best gift you have ever received

You equip the Red Locket.

Asriel is grinning ear-to-ear. “I’m glad you like it! Because… Ta-Da!” Asriel holds up another locket. This one has a white, upside-down heart instead. It symbolizes a monster SOUL.

* The White Locket - Accessory

* Created by Asriel Dreemurr. Once per day, allows the wearer to use the ‘Angelic Assault’ physical attack.

…How was Asriel able to empower an accessory with your signature physical attack?

…You don’t recall using it…

Wait, you did use it! You used it against Dr. Gaster! It was the only attack you could safely use, without risk of killing him… Asriel must have been watching that fight.

Asriel equips the White Locket.

“There! Now we match!”

You laugh and call Asriel a dork. You hug him before he can respond.

  


* * *

  


You are sitting in a field of golden flowers. You always kind of liked these flowers.

You reflect on your journey, on the friends you’ve made…

You check your SOUL. You REALLY check it…

* “Angel”

* LV 20

* HP 99/99

* ATK 99 (99) DEF 99 (99)

* SPD 20 INV 5

* MDR ??

…

You can’t seem to get a read on your Murderous Desire Ratio…

…

Now that you think about… You never had anything you’ve wanted to protect before… have you?

This place, this home…

You want to protect it…

…

You realize now…

That this is the thing you needed most…

A place to belong…

A family…

…

You feel your grim Determination fading away…

But, it doesn’t matter…

You have a new reason to stay Determined!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Time: ACT 2!
> 
> To everyone out there, Stay Determined!

**Author's Note:**

> This journey is over, but the story has only just begun! I intend to write at least two more ACTs, possibly more.
> 
> Additionally, I also plan on writing some one-shot side-stories. Subject matter is unconfirmed though.
> 
> If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment.


End file.
